Two school records, new all-time top ten marks and plenty of personal bests.
There was plenty to celebrate as UB’s indoor track team turned in a strong performance against tough competition at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday, less than two weeks before the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships.
On the men’s side, the distance runners were responsible for the two new school records. Sixth-year Ryan Buzby set another personal record (PR) to improve his record in a time of 8:07.97 in the 3000m after breaking it earlier this season, placing him fourth in the MAC.
Senior Evan Hilbert (who is also a Spectrum sports editor) threw down a PR in the mile to take back the school record he earned last season. Buzby took Hilbert’s record earlier this year with a time of 4:05.23, only for Hilbert to post a 4:04.93 Saturday.. Graduate student Johann Matzal also entered the top 10 in school history, running a 4:11.74 mile to push him into ninth on the leaderboard.
The men’s team saw another graduate student, Alex Hislop, move into fourth all-time in the 3000m with a time of 8:16.43. Also in the 3000m, sophomore Luke Stoeffler bumped up to sixth all-time, running 8:19.52. In the 400m dash, junior Tal Hamel posted a 47.91 to move him into fourth all-time.
Representing the women, sophomore Vassiana Klock ran a PR in the mile, her time of 4:59.18 putting her at eighth all-time. Freshman Aleksandra Szulska made her indoor debut in the 5000m, running a 17:11.32 to instantly jump to fifth all-time in school history. Junior Johanna Kleiner set a PR in the 800m, while freshman Lacey Danilovitz and sophomore Bronagh Cassidy each posted PRs in the 3000m.
Up next for the Bulls is the Cornell Invitational on Feb. 17. It will be the final tune-up meet before the MAC championships the following weekend.
Henry Daley is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at henry.daley@ubspectrum.com
Henry Daley is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. His work has featured on other platforms such as Medium and Last Word on Sports. Outside of the newspaper, he enjoys running and watching sports (when he’s not writing about them).
