Sidelines

Indoor Track and Field

In a non-scoring affair, the UB men's and women's indoor track and field teams competed in the Kent State Tune Up on Saturday in preparation for the post season.

The Kent State Tune Up was the regular season finale, and gave a chance for both schools to rest their top guns in anticipation of the Mid-American Conference Championships, which take place on Feb. 27 in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Buffalo's young blood was able to score three victories, with freshman Paul Riley's school-record 1,000-meter run standing out the most. Riley snapped the 12-year old record by running, and winning, the race in 2:27.22. Tom Ducey held the old mark and set it in 1992 when he ran the run in 2:28.94.

Dan Simpson and Gary Asbach also took home first place finishes, winning the pole vault and long jump competitions respectively.

UB Skiing

An announcement at the award ceremony where the UB women's ski team came in fourth place, good enough to qualify them for the National Championships, was greeted with boos when it was stated that four teams from the Empire Conference are not allowed to attend if a school from another conference does not qualify.

This meant that the fourth place team, Buffalo, would be replaced by fifth place James Madison in Sugarloaf, ME.

Coaches and officials for UB are currently fighting the obscure rule that is preventing them from attending the National Championships.

This announcement tarnished what was a great weekend for the women's team. Without their leader, Lauren Tsai, Buffalo still managed to make a run at fourth place, what should have been the cut off position for National Championship qualifications.

Tsai was not allowed to finish her race after taking a gate to the face in Saturday's race at the Blue Mountain, PA Mid-Atlantic regional competition.

The competition had 16 teams selected from close to forty on the East coast from Syracuse, Ny down to North Carolina.