Four of the fastest UB students this side of North Campus brought their speed to the Buckeye State last weekend, braking a school record en route to garnering four first-place finishes at the Northeast Ohio Invitational in Akron.
The men finished third overall in team scoring with 92 points while the women placed fourth with 64 points in the five-team meet at the Lee Jackson Track and Field Complex.
The Bulls' record-breaking performance came in the men's 4x100 relay event. The team consisting of juniors Brian Heim, Reggie Rucker, Roy Richards and freshman James Graber won the event and broke the record with a time of 41.06 seconds. The previous mark was 41.51, set in 2002.
Buffalo staved off Mid-American Conference foes Akron and Kent State in the event. The two MAC opponents finished second and third with times of 41.12 and 41.28 seconds, respectively.
The Bulls earned two other victories on the men's side as freshman Rob McRae took the 400-meter dash and sophomore Dan Giza won the 3,000-meter run.
McRae sprinted to the finish line in 47.92 seconds to win his event. McRae finished nearly two seconds ahead of the second-place runner, Scott Streiner of Youngstown State. Streiner finished in 49.63.
Giza won the 3,000-meter with his time of 8:41.83. Giza, like his relay team, was able to finish ahead of formidable conference foes from Akron and Kent State. Rick Weisheimer and Jason Headman, both from Akron, finished behind Giza with times of 8:49.52 and 8:53.20 while Ryan Spellman of Kent State finished fourth at the 8:57.37 mark.
The men also had a pair of second-place finishes from Richards as well as the 4x400 relay team.
Richards placed second in the triple jump with his leap of 45 feet, 6 1/2 inches. Cadeau Kelley of Akron, who also won the long jump, earned the victory in the triple jump with his bound of 47 feet, 1 3/4 inches.
The 4x400 relay team consisted of Heim, McRae, junior Babaseyi Olaleye and senior Bryan Weinstein and finished second with its finish at the 3:17.77 mark. The team from Kent State won the event with its time of 3:16.77.
On the women's side, senior Kate Kohout was the lone event winner at the meet for the Bulls.
Kohout won the 800-meter run after finishing sixth in the event last week in Bucknell. Kohout crossed the line in 2:12.56 for the victory. Kohout held off Emily Freundenrich of Akron who finished second overall at 2:13.06. Like her male counterparts, Konout finished ahead of the MAC cluster, as athletes from Akron and Kent State rounded out the top five.
The women's team also gathered a trio of second-place finishes in Akron, with junior Dana Ventrone, sophomore Vanessa Roelofsen and freshman Caitlin Godin each placing second in individual events.
Ventrone jumped 16 feet, 4 1/2 inches in the long jump. Her leap was bested by Joanne Douglas of Ashland who blew away the competition with her mark of 18 feet, 1 3/4 inches.
Roelofsen's launch of 163 feet, 11 inches in the javelin throw put her in second behind Ashley Kaufman of Akron at 170 feet, 7 inches.
Godin tied with four other athletes in the high jump with her leap of 5 feet, 3 inches. The top mark was 5 feet, 5 inches by Natalie Sako of Akron.
The host school swept the team scoring on both the men's and women's sides.
For the men, Akron finished with 219 points overall, followed by Kent State (139), Buffalo (92), Youngstown State (61) and Ashland (44).
The Akron women won with 217 points followed by Kent State (148), Youngstown State (71), Buffalo (64) and Ashland (53).
The Bulls' next meet will involve splitting the squad up to compete. Some of the athletes will be competing at the Penn Relay in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 27-29. The rest of the squad will be participating in the Gina Relays in Hillside, Mich. from April 28-29.
