Buffalo's cross country team got its season off and running on Saturday. But with new runners and a new season ahead, both the men and women's teams aren't up to full speed just yet.
"It was the first race of the season so we were just trying to see where everybody was at," said junior runner Dan Healy. "Some people had little problems with their racing strategy. And we've got a lot of new guys (coming) to the collegiate level so they weren't sure how to race the longer races."
The Akron Zips, who hosted the Tommy Evans Invite, finished first in both the men's and women's meets. The women finished right behind Akron in second place, while the men's squad finished third. Both teams came up with second place finishes behind host Akron at the Tommy Evans Invite. Of the 11 racers on each team, the men and women each fielded five freshmen. In addition to those ten rookie racers, transfer student Nicole Soblosky, who ran at Iona last year, made a statement in her first race for Buffalo.
Soblosky, a sophomore, led her team with a tenth place finish in the 5K course. She was running 30th at one point in the race, but was able to move up 20 spots to secure a spot in the top ten. Soblosky finished with a time of 19:52. Junior Jessica O'Neill, back from an injury that held her out of most of last season's races, was the next Bull to cross the finish line at the 20:15 mark. O'Neill finished in 14th place.
Fellow junior Jessica Schultz finished 16th overall with a time of 20:44. This time cut two minutes off of last year's finish in Akron. Coming in 17th was Bulls freshman runner Megan Niblock with a time of 20:54. Freshman Jackie Bozich crossed the end line 19th overall in 20:58 and senior Susan Beatty, whose time of 21:14 was good enough for 22nd overall, rounded out the Bulls' top seven. Sophomore Larisa Arcip of Akron led the way with a time of 19:08.
With Akron runners finishing one through eight in the 41 runner race, the Zips scored a perfect 15 points. The team with the lowest total after adding each team's top seven racers' finishes takes home first place. Buffalo earned second place with 62 points, ahead of Mount Union's 75 points and fourth place Youngstown State's tally of 99.
On the men's side, the freshmen made their presence felt in the four-mile course. Although sophomore Jason Ayr was the Bulls' top finisher in 10th place, he was followed by three fresh faces in the season's inaugural race.
"(The freshmen runners) are very hard workers," Healy said. "They love to push themselves up with the veterans. They don't mind pushing themselves up to our level. (They) definitely (bring) a good outlook for (the future of) UB's running program."
Ayr's time of 21:38 was 17 seconds better than his mark in the 2006 Tommy Evans Invitational. He finished seventh as a freshman last year. Coming in right behind him in 11th place was freshman Ryan Bloom with a mark of 21:38. Jacob Hagen and Chris Allen, the other freshmen who placed for the Bulls, finished in 21st and 22nd with times of 22:04 and 22:05, respectively.
Senior Paul Riley finished in fifth for the Bulls, running the race in 22:31 and sophomore Scott Dickover came in 31st overall with a time of 22:40. Healy finished seventh for the Bulls, with a time of 23:01, placing 32nd in the race. Akron's Jason Headman won the race in 20:41, averaging 5:11 per mile.
Akron swept the invitational by winning the men's meet with 19 total points. Mount Union came in second with 48 points, followed by the Bulls with 84 points and Youngstown State once again bringing up the rear with 93.
Buffalo's next meet takes place on Friday at 1 p.m. as they travel to Michigan State for the Spartan Invite.
"We're going to do a lot better (next weekend)," Healy said. "We learned a lot from the mistakes of this past weekend. So a lot of people will be running a lot better and a lot smarter."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
