Sidelines

Battle bests the books

Turner Battle of the men's basketball team was named Mid-American Conference Scholar Athlete of the Week for his performance on the court against Northern Illinois, Marshall and Eastern Michigan as well as his record as a student. Battle, who has a cumulative GPA of 3.56, is one of 12 UB athletes who had a 4.0 GPA for the fall 2004 semester.

Battle averaged 16.7 points, seven rebounds and five assists over the three consecutive wins for the Bulls. Additionally, he broke the UB modern era assist record on Jan. 25 against Northern Illinois.

This is the second consecutive week that a UB athlete has received MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honors, as Faith Thompson of the women's indoor track and field team picked up the award last week.

Women swimmers swept away

UB's women's swimming and diving team lost two contests in one day as the Bulls fell to Bowling Green and Akron in a meet held at Bowling Green.

In the Bulls' match against Bowling Green, UB lost by a final score of 189-111. No Bulls swimmer or diver beat a single Bowling Green athlete.

The Bulls did, however, manage to take two events from Akron. Jennefer Brankovsky won the 200-yard individual medley with a final time of 2:25.89. Brankovsky had good races in both the 200-yard breaststroke, where she placed second, and in the 200-yard freestyle where she placed third. The Bulls, however, found themselves finishing just short of the victory, as Akron won the match by a final score of 179-121.

UB also won the one-meter diving competition, with Ashlee Burton scoring 302.9 points, which shattered the previous school record, also set by Burton, of 275.25.

Buffalo recorded a second place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, as Kahla Walkinshaw notched a season-best 17:53.92. Other second place finishers for the Bulls included Cassie Oliveri and Frances Stephenson, who both placed second in the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes, respectively.

Following the duo of losses, the Bulls fell to 3-8 overall and 0-8 in the Mid-American Conference. The ladies will be in action once again on Feb. 12 at Cornell, a meet that will serve as the final of the regular season for the team.