The UB men's and women's cross country teams finished in the middle of the pack last weekend at the Spiked Shoe Invitational, held at Penn State University.
In a meet that hosted 17 men's teams and 16 women's teams, UB finished 10th and seventh respectively, tallying 216 points for the men and 169 points for the women.
With only five Division I teams at Saturday's competition, the Bulls opted to give their top athletes a break, presenting the teams' youth with the opportunity to step up and showcase their talents.
Host team Penn State won the men's 5.2-mile race with 39 points. Sophomore Dan Giza was the Bulls' highest place finisher, ending the race 40th of 189 competitors with a time of 27:28. Senior Matt Moyinhan finished just ten seconds behind Giza at 27:38 and took home 50th place.
Junior Paul Riley finished in 56th place with a time of 27:46. Giza was two minutes and one second off from the race's first-place finisher, junior Teddy Meyers of St. Josephs University.
On the women's side, Yale took home first place in the 6K competition with 34 team points. Senior Jen Jezorski led Buffalo with a time of 22:34, earning 15th place of 201 runners.
Sophomore Aleksandra Bykowska took home 31st place with a time of 23:03, while freshman Mary Veith came in just two seconds later, finishing in 35th place. Yale's Lindsay Donaldson took home first place with a time of 21:24.
Saturday's meet marked the first time this season that the women ran in a 6K competition, having only run 5K races in their other two tournaments.
Both the men and women will compete next weekend as they travel to Lehigh University for the Paul Short Invitational.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
