Women's Swimming & Diving
The women's swimming and diving team worked during the past three weeks to get ready for the Mid American Conference Championship meet, and they hope all if its hard work pays off.
After dropping the final match of the season to Toledo on Feb. 6, the Bulls (8-3, 4-3 MAC) continued to practice for the championship competition, which commences at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Nixon Aquatic Center. The championship runs until Saturday.
At the Toledo meet, the team of senior Jessica Ballard, sophomore Brynn Marecki, junior Jessie Koltz and freshman Caroline Simmons recorded a season-best time of 1:44.68 in the 200-meter medley relay.
Head coach Andy Bashor notes this as an important event at the Championships.
'I'm really looking forward to the 200-medley relay,' Bashor said. 'It ‘s an event that we won last year; the first ever relay title. So, I'm excited to defend that.'
Among the pool of competitors, Bashor said Miami (OH) (7-4, 5-2 MAC), Toledo (11-2, 7-0 MAC) and Ohio University (10-2, 5-2 MAC) will present the biggest challenge to the Bulls. Miami (OH) is the defending MAC Champion.
Indoor Track & Field
With the Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships just days away, he men's and women's teams are deep in preparation.
Buffalo only sent part of its team to the final competition of the regular season. Although the Bulls had no team scoring at Friday's Zips Open at Akron's Stile Field House, they did yield five first-place finishes – three for the men and two for the women.
Women's head coach Vicki Mitchell said Akron served as good practice for the athletes involved.
'We used it as a tune-up for some of the athletes that needed a little bit more prep or a little bit more confidence work going into the MAC Championships,' Mitchell said. 'The ones that we did take really had some great performances. We had a lot of personal bests coming out of that meet at Akron, so it went very well. For the other athletes that didn't compete, we we're just resting them up. They did workouts at home to avoid a weekend of travel so that they are physically and mentally ready to go for this coming weekend.'
At Akron, junior John Bauman took the 800-meter race in 1:53.55. The men also recorded wins in both horizontal jumps. Junior Andrew Omoregie finished first in long jump with a distance of 21-0.75 (6.42m), while freshman Tomarris Bell won triple jump at 44-11.50 (13.70m).
The women's team also captured a win in the 800-meter run as freshman Leah Wightman recorded a 2:12.84 victory. Off the track, junior Ajla Glavasevic threw 37-6.50 (11.44m) to secure a win in the shot put. Glavasevic is expected to compete in the women's pentathlon at the MAC Championships.
While Mitchell does not want to make a prediction about what place the women's team will finish at the conference meet, her expectations are high.
'We have several individuals that are ranked quite highly in the Mid-American Conference,' Mitchell said. 'I just expect all the women that go to compete to perform at their personal best level, which means equaling their best performances so far this season or exceeding them. If they do that and rise to that level of competition, I think as a team we'll do quite well.'
Both teams have one more day to practice before heading to Mt. Pleasant, Mich. on Thursday morning for the championship. Competition is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.
Men's head coach Perry Jenkins expects to surprise a lot of people at the conference meet.
'We expect to be in contention in the sprints on both the men and women's side,' Jenkins said. 'We're also looking to do well in the mid-distances, in the 800- and 1500-meter events, and also on the relay side; both the 4x4 and the [distance medley relay]. When you go to the MAC Championship, you know you have to be on you're ‘A' game and I feel in those key events that we're ready to compete in the conference.'
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