The men and women's track teams may be nearing the end of the season, but they are competing like they are gearing up to do great things and breaking a few school records in the process.
On Saturday, the track teams hosted the Chancellor's Cup at UB Stadium and rose to the occasion as they soundly defeated Syracuse University, Erie Community College, Fredonia State, Binghamton University and Canisius College.
"This was a good opportunity for our team to see where we are for the upcoming Penn Relays and conference championships," said men's head coach Perry Jenkins. "Today there were a lot of great personal records and a lot of our seniors have moved up in the regionals. There were a lot of wonderful individual performances from both the men's and women's teams."
On the women's side, two school records were broken on their way to a first place finish with 299.5 points. To put that score in perspective, Syracuse finished second with 200 points.
Meagan Rogers set the tone early in the javelin throw by breaking the school record with a throw of 124 feet and one inch, breaking the old mark of 121 feet and one inch set in 1988 by Ellen Haas, the longest standing record for UB women's track and field. Rogers also tied for first in the pole vault with a jump of five feet and 2.5 inches.
Laura Olson also had a memorable afternoon as she broke another school record in the pole vault with a mark of 13 feet and .25 inches, which was nearly three feet higher than the second place finisher.
"The first non-windy day in a long time definitely helped a lot," said Olson. "I made it into the championship level of the Penn Relays, which is just a huge honor and I can't wait. There will be some of the top all-stars in the country there."
Biaunca McFarland also took home a first place in the triple jump with a leap of 41 feet and five inches. She also came in second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.46 seconds. Faith Thompson won the shot put with a day's best hurl of 45 feet and 2.25 inches.
Jenelle Callender took the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.19 seconds, followed by Christina Keck, who came in second with a time of 56.26 seconds and Allison Laske finished third with a time of 57.91 seconds. Kate Kohout capped off the individual winners as she took the 800 meters in 2.16.26.
The men's results nearly mirrored the women's, as they too broke two school records on their way to a first place finish, tallying 258.5 points to second place Syracuse's 144.5 points.
Keith Gentes got the Bulls fired up early with powerful throws, as he took first in the hammer throw, establishing a new school record in the process with a toss of 190 feet and seven inches. Rashidi Greene held the old mark of 186 feet and three inches since 1999.
"It was a real nice day as the weather gave us a chance to perform real well," said Gentes. "We have been training real hard, but there is still five weeks left and a lot of work left to be done."
Dan Simpson also had a splendid afternoon as he broke the 1999 pole vault record set by Jason Liddle with a height of 15 feet and 10 inches.
Long sprinter Joe Clark also had a nice meet as he won both the 200 meters (21.67) and 400 meters (47.30). Mario Hicks took the 100 meters in 10.86 and was also the top scorer in the 110-meter hurdles coming in at 14.86 seconds.
Todd Joki prevailed in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet and 5.25 inches. Steve Esler claimed the high jump event at six feet and 7.5 inches. Jerimie Slick won the 1500-meter dash at 3.54.40. Doug Johnson took the 800 meters dash in 1.54.06 and Tim Giagios claimed the 400-meter hurdles in 54.88.
UB also swept the relay races, winning the 400-meter relay in 41.68 and the 1600-meter relay in 3:19.11.
Buffalo travels to the Penn Relays next week to take on some of the top collegiate talent in the entire country.
