Sidelines

Abolaji drafted No. 1 overall

Former Buffalo midfielder Sola Abolaji made history last week by becoming the highest Buffalo player to be drafted in any professional sports draft, as he was drafted first overall by the United Soccer League's expansion Carolina RailHawks. Abolaji will play in the USL, which is one of the highest levels of professional soccer in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The 26-player draft consisted of two rounds of 13 with players from all around the nation.

Abolaji had previously played for the Premier Development League's Boulder Rapids Reserve the past two years. Sola joins his brother, Seyi Abolaji, who joined the USL's Seattle Sounders in 2006 after having played 22 matches in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the California Cougars.

While at Buffalo, Abolaji played in 33 games and started in 10. He picked up an assist in UB's 1-0 upset bid over then 19th-ranked Northern Illinois and landed the only goal in a 2-1 loss to Akron. He ended his collegiate career with three goals and four assists.

Weekly Mid-American Conference awards given to track athletes

Senior thrower Sarah Vance was named the MAC's Women's Field Athlete of the Week. Senior jumper Roy Richards earned the MAC's Men's Field Athlete of the week while sprinter Ezekiel Porter took the league's Men's Track Athlete of the Week Award. All three were key in Buffalo's second-place finishes at last weekend's Cornell Upstate Challenge.

Vance broke the Buffalo indoor shot put mark with a toss of 50-8 feet, shattering the previous mark of 49-9 feet set in 2005. Richards won the long jump and improved on his IC4A qualifying distance for the second consecutive week with a leap of 24-5.75 feet. Porter broke Tim Dance's 2002 mark in the 60-meter dash and also won the 200-meter dash for the Bulls. Porter clocked in at 6.77 seconds in the 60 meter and 22.22 seconds in the 200-meter dash.