The Bulls track teams captured a trio of individual victories for the men and four for the women last weekend at the Bucknell Bison Open in Lewisburg, Pa.
On a gorgeous weekend at Christy Matewson Memorial Stadium, the men were led by top performances from senior Bryan Weinstein. Weinstein won the 200-meter dash, placed third in the 100-meter dash and ran the lead leg in a victory for the men's 4x400-meter relay team.
Weinstein crossed the line in 21.60 seconds to win the 200-meter event as he edged out Nick Wetherby of Cortland. Wetherby finished in 21.88 seconds. Weinstein also finished third in the 100-meter dash with his time of 10.75 seconds.
"Bryan's just a very hard worker and just loves to compete," said head coach Vicki Mitchell. "He's also a pretty strong team motivator. He gets fired up about his competition and he likes his teammates to be fired up about it and perform well."
Bryan's persistence and intensity showed with personal best times in the 100- and 200-meter events.
Weinstein was also part of the 4x400 meter relay team that finished in first place. Weinstein, junior Reggie Rucker and freshmen James Graber and Rob McRae won the event with a time of 41.80 seconds.
Junior Rayshon Higgins and senior Mike Giordano won their respective events, Higgins in the triple jump and Giordano in the shot put.
Higgins won with his leap of 50 feet, 2 3/4 inches, over three feet farther than second-place finisher Tynez Wilson of Cortland who finished at 46 feet, 11 1/2 inches. Higgins' mark qualified him for the NCCA East Regionals in May.
Giordano's toss of 54 feet, 10 inches in the shot put was the top mark in the event. Second-place went to Josh Dupuis of Brockport with his throw of 52 feet, 7 1/2 inches.
For the women's squad, four individual victories was the story of the meet.
Senior Stacey Downer won the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 56.02 seconds to edge out Kate Evangelista of Lafayette at 57.65 seconds.
Sophomore Tina Villa had an impressive outing in the throwing events for the women. Villa won the shot put with her throw of 44 feet, 6 1/4 inches ahead of Majorie Grap of the host school Bucknell. Villa also took second in the discus throw at Bucknell with her launch of 142 feet, 5 inches.
According to Mitchell, Villa's success comes from her determination.
"I know (Tina) has high goals for herself and the fact that she throws in all events, the hammer, the shot and the discus, shows she's very versatile," Mitchell said.
Along with great performances from Downer and Villa, the Bulls had two freshmen athletes perform well. Freshmen Fatimah Hill and Caitlin Godin won the long jump and high jump, respectively.
Hill broke the school record in the long jump with her jump of 19 feet 6 1/4 inches en route to her win in the event. The previous record was held by April Pabilonia in 2002.
Godin had similar success in the high jump. Godin's victory came with her leap of 5 feet, 5 inches as she shared the title with Kelsey Buffenmeyer of Juniata.
The ability for freshmen like Hill and Godin to win events is pleasing to the coaching staff.
"It's very exciting when we look to the next couple of years," Mitchell said. "To have freshman stepping up and winning events where it was probably somewhat unexpected three or four weeks ago, I think bodes well for our future."
Freshman Mary Veith joined Hill and Godin in the frosh success with her USA Junior Championship qualifying mark of 4:38.95 in the women's 1,500-meter run.
There was no team scoring at the Bucknell Open, an event which allowed Buffalo to match up with competition of the same caliber.
"It was a great meet for us," Mitchell said. "It's probably not the hardest, deepest competition that we've seen all year, however it's an excellent meet for us. It was competition that was good enough to place, but not blowing us out of the water. It was a meet that we could perform well in."
The Bulls next event is the Akron Invitational on Sat. April 22 in Akron, Ohio.
