Junior Jessica Lister won her first pole vault event of the outdoor season, bounding 11 feet, 9 3/4 inches at the Raleigh Relays on Saturday.
Lister's victory at Paul Derr Track in Raleigh, N.C., was the second in as many weeks for Buffalo pole vaulters. Sophomore Carrie Hinners won the event last week in Greensboro.
"In the pole vault event there was a bit of a delay because of a rain storm," head coach Vicki Mitchell said. "The athletes had to re-warm up. But, Jessica went out there and made her jumps and won. It was a good confidence builder for her."
The Bulls used the Raleigh Relays as a training event for the outdoor season in order to adjust to the weather conditions and get reacquainted with a bigger track.
Lister was the only athlete to win an event for the Bulls. However, there were numerous other top-five finishers on both the men's and women's squads.
For the women, senior runner Jenny Koeppel and sophomore thrower Vanessa Roelefson each grabbed second-place finishes in their respective events.
Laura Hodges of Virginia won the 10,000-meter run with an overall time of 35:33.72 with Koeppel placing second overall as she crossed the line at 36:09.89.
Roelefson broke her own school record with her second-place finish in the javelin throw. Her throw of 162 feet, 2 inches broke her old record by five inches, but was short of the 170-feet launch of Akron's Ashley Kaufman. The next-closest competitor to the two Mid-American Conference throwers was Heidi Nadeau of Penn State with a toss of 149 feet, 9 inches.
Senior Jen Jezorski placed third overall in the 1,500-meter run. Jezorski finished the event in 4:31.90. Julia Lucas of North Carolina State finished first overall at 4:27.54.
Jezorski went into the event in a training mindset.
"I wanted Jen to run a good competitive 1,500," Mitchell said. "She ran strong testing a lot of girls, but it was at a very even, controlled pace."
Junior Kate Kohout placed fourth in the women's 800-meter run. Christine Whalen of Georgetown won the event with her time of 2:10.27. Kohout finished the event in 2:12.10.
The men's squad had a trio of top-five finishes.
Junior Roy Richards ended his winning streak in the long jump as he finished third overall in the event. Richards' leap of 23 feet, 11 3/4 inches was short of the 24 feet 8 1/2 inches jump of Tone Belt from Louisville.
Richards is the indoor MAC champion in the long jump and had won his last three events, including his last two indoor events and his win last week in Greensboro to open up the outdoor season.
"Roy was very disappointed because he wants to finish in first place every time he goes out there," Mitchell said. "However, with the heavy phase of training I don't think he was ready to go out and pop off a good jump."
Senior Andy Leonard finished fourth overall in the men's 5,000-meter run. Nik Schweikert of Malone College broke the tape to finish in first-place at 14:54.73. Leonard finished at the 15:01.48 mark.
Senior Bryan Weinstein ran to a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Weinstein's time of 22.67 seconds was not fast enough to surpass conference foe Howard Harris of Akron who won the event in 22.16 seconds.
Buffalo was originally schedule to compete in the Greensboro Relays but opted to participate in the Raleigh Relays when NC State considered canceling Greensboro.
There was no team scoring at the event in Raleigh.
The Bulls have the upcoming weekend off. They head into the Miami Invite in Oxford, Ohio on April 8. The rest comes at a good time for Buffalo.
"This coming weekend we don't have a meet," Mitchell said. "We're looking forward for the athletes to catch up on academics and to catch up on much-needed rest. Our next meet will have several MAC competitors."
