For the first time in 30 years the University at Buffalo can boast it has competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division-I Championships.
Jerimie Slick, a member of UB's cross country team, placed 91st out of 244 runners in the 10-kilometer cross country race at the NCAA Division-I National Championships at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. on Nov. 19. Slick finished the course in 30:54.
Ed Fuchs was the last UB representative in any national championship race, when from 1968-1970 he ran in three championship races in the NCAA's University Division, the forerunner of today's Division-I classification.
Slick qualified for the national championship with his solid performance at the NCAA Northeast Regional meet in Boston on Nov. 10. There, he finished eighth out of a field of 249 runners who completed the course with a time of 30:15.30.
Slick's recent successes were foreshadowed when he earned first-team All-MAC honors at the MAC Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich. on Oct. 27. He finished sixth in 25:21.9 on the 8-kilometer course, his top season performance at that distance.
Eastern Michigan junior and Kenya native Boaz Cheboiywo was the only other MAC representative in the field. He set a course record on his way to the individual title, finishing in 28:47 and breaking the previous record by seven seconds. Cheboiywo finished 19 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher and became the second MAC individual champion, joining former Ohio star and current Bobcat coach Elmore Banton, who captured the 1964 title.
The Colorado Buffalos took home the school's first team title with 90 points, edging the second-place Stanford Cardinal by a single point.
Slick will compete this winter for the Bulls indoor track and field squad, where he currently holds the UB indoor record for 5000 meters at 14:59.25. He is the only UB runner to better the 15-minute barrier. UB opens the indoor season at the Colgate Invitational on Dec. 1.
