After months of training, hard work and facing various opponents throughout the country, the Bulls' hopes of making an impact boiled down to its seventh and final race of the season.
The cross-country team competed this past weekend at the NCAA Regional meet. The race took place Saturday morning on a beautiful 65-degree day in the Bronx, New York. While neither the men's or women's team placed high enough to continue on in the NCAA Tournament, each squad finished on successful notes.
The men's team finished in 22nd-place out of 41 teams. Senior Andy Leonard led the way for the Bulls, as he placed 35th in a field of 230 runners. Leonard finished the 10K course with a time of 32:57.2. Junior Jesse Mang and senior Paul Riley finished second and third for the Bulls, with times of 35:08.6 and 35:17.5 respectively.
"Andy had a great race," said head coach Vikki Mitchell. "He's a consistent performer who has worked very hard the last couple of years and it really paid off."
Ivy League programs dominated this year's regional meet, although Iona University took first-place in the event. Providence and Syracuse followed Iona for second and third, while six Ivy League schools took the fourth through ninth spots in the race.
Despite fine individual performances the team finished in the middle of the pack.
"Our men overall struggled," Mitchell said. "It wasn't a great performance and unfortunately it's the end of the season. Now they can recoup their bodies and get ready for the indoor season."
The women's team finished the season with a solid performance, as the Bulls placed 15th out of 41 schools. Boston College finished first overall followed by Iona and Providence. The leader board was once again populated with Ivy League schools, as four were able to place in the top 10.
Buffalo was led by sophomore runner Mary Veith. Veith placed 18th overall out of 228 participants in the 6K race. Veith was followed by junior Alexandra Bykowska, senior Kate Kohout and sophomore Jessica Schultz.
Veith's performance capped off a brilliant season in which she received various accolades including being named to the All-MAC first team. In addition, Veith was the runner-up in last weeks' MAC Championships and earned All-NCAA East honors for her great efforts this past weekend.
"She's just going to miss out in continuing individually in the NCAA's but she nonetheless had a fantastic performance," Mitchell said.
Also this past weekend the Bulls were able to earn some redemption and prove to schools it could compete with the best in the nation. Buffalo was able to finish better than several opponents that previously defeated the Bulls during the regular season, including Colgate, Army and Binghamton.
While the cross-country season has ended, the Bulls will soon start out with off season workouts and competition this winter.
"We go right into training for the season," Mitchell said. "There's not a lot of downtime. We have an indoor meet in the second week of January."
Buffalo will look to build with their young runners like Mang and Veith, while they will hope to replace their best runner in Leonard. With many younger runners on each side there will be promise for improvement.
The Bulls will take this next week off to rest and relax before jumping back into training the following week in preparation for winter competition that begins in January.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
