Long jumper Richards takes first at Penn State

With no team scoring in what was one of the most competitive meets of the season, the Buffalo men's and women's track and field teams were all about individual accolades last weekend, as both squads faced some of the best athletes the East Coast has to offer at the Penn State Invitational.

Fighting against several of the top competitors in the eastern United States, the Bulls had one first-place finish, two second-place finishes and three record-setting performances.

"It was a fantastic meet for us," said women's head coach Vikki Mitchell. "There are two main reasons that we had a very good performance. First, the facility itself is a very fast track. The second reason is the level of competition that we had was very high. When you compete against better athletes, it will bring out better performances in you."

Coming in first place in the long jump was UB junior Roy Richards who posted a bound of 24 feet, 1.75 inches (7.36 m). Richards also competed in the 200-meter dash, where his time of 22.76 seconds landed him 23rd place out of 29 sprinters.

"For the men's team, Roy Richards winning the long jump against very good competition was a great accomplishment for him," Mitchell said. "I think it really sets him out as one of the top individuals to be looked at for our conference."

One of the Bulls' second-place finishes also came from the men's team as sophomore Rayshon Higgins leaped 47 feet, 10.50 inches (14.59 m) in the triple jump. In addition to landing him the No. 2 spot, the jump also added an inch-and-a-half to Higgins' Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Championship-qualifying mark.

The IC4A is a championship held in March in Boston, hosted by the Eastern College Athletic Conference. While both the ECAC and IC4A Championships take place at the same time, the IC4A is more difficult to qualify for.

Bulls junior Dan McKenna also had a standout performance for the men, finishing seventh in the mile. McKenna's time of 4:09:30 was fast enough to break his own school record by more than two seconds, and guaranteed him a spot in the IC4A meet.

Finishing fourth overall in the men's distance medley were junior Chris McClure, freshman Rob McRae, junior Paul Riley and McKenna. The foursome's time of 9:59.68 shaved five seconds off last season's IC4A mark and set a new school record.

On the women's side, the distance medley relay team also posted a new UB record as freshman Mary Veith, senior Stacy Downer, junior Kate Kohout and senior anchor Jen Jezorski crossed the finish line with a combined time of 11:38.35. The Bulls' finish earned them an ECAC-qualifying time, and cut two seconds off the previous record.

Jezorski also posted a new personal best in the mile finishing in 4:56.44, while finishing fifth for the Bulls overall. Doing double overtime, Jezorski filled in and anchored for the women's four-by-four relay team.

"To run three events in two days, of the distance she did, that's very tough to do," Mitchell said.

Also putting up strong performances for the Bulls were junior Jessica Lister, who earned an ECAC-qualifying mark with a jump of 12 feet, 3.5 inches (3.75 m) in the pole vault and freshman teammate Caitlin Godin who posted a high jump leap of 5 feet, 7 inches (1.70 m).

"In the field events, Caitlin Godin completed her third meet with great standing," Mitchell said. "Again, this in a very high quality meet was extremely impressive as she tied for third place."

Although the athletes were scored individually, according to Mitchell, there is still a strong team sentiment amongst both the women's and the men's teams.

"Essentially, when we travel to a meet to compete, if you ask any of our athletes, they don't feel they are an individual out competing," Mitchell said. "They are always connected to a team. Even though track and field is viewed as an individual sport, the team component is really quite large."

The men's and women's indoor track and field teams travel to Ohio for the Akron Invite on Friday and Saturday. The meet is set to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday.