A broken school record and a national qualifier were just two of the achievements that the outdoor track and field team made while competing in last weekend's Miami Invitational.
The Bulls left Rider Track in Oxford, OH with a second-place finish on the men's side and a fifth-place finish on the women's.
Junior Roy Richards led the men's squad with an all-around performance, as he won the long jump, the 100-meter dash and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4-by-400-meter relay team for Buffalo.
Richards proved he was back on top in the long jump with a leap of 24-3 3/4. His victory was welcomed after a disappointing third place finish two weeks ago.
"Roy is just a competitor," said head coach Vicki Mitchell. "Each time he steps out there he's ready to go. He's very passionate about the long jump; it's not an event that he likes to see anything other than first-place. He really rose to the occasion."
In the 100-meter dash Richards crossed the line in 10.96 seconds to win the event, ahead of two Mid-American Conference runners. Ryan Phillips and Michael Watts, both from Miami (OH), finished second and third respectively.
The Bulls 4-by-400-meter relay team won its event by posting a time of 41.70 seconds. The team of senior Bryan Weinstein, junior Babaseyi Olaleye, freshman Rob McRae and Richards edged out the relay team from Miami (OH) for the victory.
Junior Brian Heim won the men's 400-meter hurdles with his time of 51.95 seconds. Heim's victorious time tied his own school record and qualified him for the NCAA East regional in May. This was the first outdoor track meet that Heim has competed in.
Senior Mike Giordano won the men's shot put event. Giordano's toss of just over 50 feet put him ahead of the 49-5 1/2 second-place throw by Mike Schubert from Notre Dame.
"Mike Giordano had kind of a similar situation to Brian (Heim)," Mitchell said. "This was his first outdoor meet since he had knee injury back in February. So, for Mike to come out, get in the circle and walk away with a win in his first competition back was really nice."
Junior Rayshon Higgins won the triple jump for Buffalo. Higgins bested teammate, sophomore Loic Sebuharara, with his jump of 46-8 3/4. Sebuharara finished second in the event at 44-5 1/4.
On the women's side, sophomores Vanessa Roelofsen and Tina Villa were the lone event winners for the Bulls; both victories came in throwing events.
Roelofsen came to the meet after breaking her own school record in the javelin two weeks ago in Raleigh. Once again Roelofsen broke her own school record with a launch of 166-10, which also set a Miami Invitational meet record. The next closest thrower to Roelofsen was Chelsea Stephan of Ohio University, who had a throw 131-2.
"It was another huge day for Vanessa," Mitchell said. "She threw over a meter and a half past her personal best and won by over 11 meters, which is just unheard of in a competition of this quality."
Villa won the discus throw as she posted a toss of 144-2. Miami's Quekan Ibidunni finished second.
Strong performances were also put in by freshman Caitlin Godin and senior Kate Kohout. Godin tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5-8 3/4. Kohout finished third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.69.
Miami (OH) won overall in team scoring on both the men's and women's sides, with 204 points and 164.50 points respectively. The Bulls men's squad totaled 118 points in their second-place finish and the women scored a total of 63.50 in their fifth-place finish.
According to Mitchell, this should help the Bulls gain some credibility in the MAC.
"I think our athletes definitely rose to the challenge and benefited from being in a very high-quality meet." Mitchell said. "We were really happy to be out there and the team was excited to get out and compete against other MAC schools. We're ready to not only compete at our best, but other schools now know Buffalo is going to be a strong competitor. We're definitely gaining respect around our conference."
The Bulls' next compete is at the Bucknell Bison Open in Lewisburg, Penn. on April 14-15.
