The Buffalo men's and women's track team decided to divide and conquer this weekend as athletes were sent to either the Gina Relays in Michigan or to the powerhouse Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The Bulls got a taste of the future as several Mid-American Conference foes also competed at both meets. Both meets were non-team scoring.
"One of the highlight areas at this meet and has been the entire year has been our field events and our throwing," said Bulls head coach Vicki Mitchell. "This meet was non-scoring but we had very many strong individual performances that have always been a key focus for our team."
Shining in those field events was freshmen sprinter Octavia Johnson, who set a personal-best in the women's long jump, finishing fifth with a leap of 18-feet 9-inches. Teammate and fellow freshman Kimarie Black took a third in the women's triple jump with a leap of 38 feet.
Continuing to dominate in her events, senior thrower Sarah Vance took a third in the discuss with a toss of 151 feet, a first-place in the hammer throw reaching 182 feet and a second in the shot put with a 48 foot toss. Vance finished behind teammate Tina Villa who grabbed the top spot in the shot put with a throw of 48 feet 3 inches.
"This meet here in Michigan is really good for us because there is about five other Mid-American conference team's competing and it gives us idea of what they are doing," Mitchell said. "Next weekend at Akron we view that as a tune up meet and get some last minute fine tuning in. With finals in the classroom it is a tough time to balance athletics and academics and they do a great job."
On the men's side, freshman jumper Eugene Kennedy took a third in the high jump soaring 6 1/2 feet. Kennedy would show up again as he took another third in the men's triple jump, bounding 45-feet 4-inches. Sophomore Jacob Modina grabbed himself a third-place in the shot put with a toss of 53-feet 6-inches. The Bulls had two decathletes compete and both came out with the top spots as senior Todd Joki won the event with 6,504 points and freshman Russell Cameron finished second with 5,997 points.
A handful of Bulls headed down to Pennsylvania for the prestigious Penn Relays. Buffalo only sent six athletes to compete among the nation's top competition in a meet that was nationally televised on ESPN2.
"It was great to compete at the Penn Relays. It has been two years since we have been down here and it is a great atmosphere," said Bulls head coach Perry Jenkins. "It is a great moment for the seniors on the team and also for the freshmen to experience the talent on such a high level."
The sprint team of freshman Ezekiel Porter, senior Reggie Rucker, sophomore James Garbner and senior Roy Richards took a fifth-place in the highly competitive finals of the 4x100 relay, finishing in a time of 41.85. Senior jumper Rayshon Higgins jumped an impressive 49.04.50 to finish in sixth-place among the likes of athletes from Tennessee and Penn State. Rucker was slated to do well in the 110-meter hurdles but was victim of a tough lane assignment and a rough start, not allowing him to advance out of his heat. Richards also competed again, this time in the men's eastern division long jump. Again, with stiff competition, his leap of 7.07 meters earned him an eighth place.
"We hope this momentum is a slingshot from indoor," Jenkins said. "The bottom line is that it is going to be a tough fight at the MAC championships and our athletes have been performing well and it will be interesting to see how that meet goes."
When the team rejoins forces next week they will compete in the Al Campbell Open, which is an all day event set to take place next Saturday in Akron, Ohio. This will give the team another chance to get one last look at their conference rivals, as the MAC Championship is only two weeks away.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
