Bulls Set New Records in the 300-meter Dash

What was just supposed to be a tune-up meet for the men's and women's track and field team on Saturday turned into a multi-record-breaking event.

The Bulls traveled to the Marc Deneault Invitational at Cornell University to compete in their last meet before the Mid-American Conference Championships. The 300-meter dash proved to be the magic event for both squads.

In the women's 300-meter dash, sophomore Jamie McClary shattered Tonya Reid's 17-year old school record with a 39.61 first-place finish. McClary also broke the record in the indoor 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter dash.

Senior Brian Smith broke a school record. Smith took 0.55 off of Fumi Gakodi's 1996 300-meter dash record to come in second place with a time of 34.65. This marks Smith's first indoor record despite holding multiple outdoor records.

The fact that both records were broken on a track that is normally antagonistic to sprinters made the performances all the more exciting.

"What made [the record-breaking races] very impressive is that the track we ran on for sprinters is kind of a slow track," said women's head coach Vicki Mitchell. "As opposed to last week with Akron, [which is] 300 meters and one of the fastest tracks around to run on, Cornell has eight lanes and a 200-meter track. It has small, tight turns, so you run slower and it affects the sprints more. It's tough to run fast, but our athletes did."

The record breakers were not the only members of the team that had strong performances. Freshman Crystal Graham ran her season-best time of 25.71 in the 200-meter dash, while senior Peter Bligh took first place in the high jump with a 6-6.25 (1.99m).

The meet's successes put Buffalo in the right direction for MAC-Championship preparation.

"We have to do three things this week," Mitchell said. "We have to stay healthy; we have to get physically prepared for final little race touches; and we have to get mentally prepared for two demanding, tough days of competition. If we do all three of those things, I think the meet will go well for both our women and our men."

The MAC Championships will be held in Bowling Green, Ohio. The all-day meet will take place this Friday and Saturday.

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