Two standout performances highlighted the ECAC/IC4A Championships this past weekend for the men's and women's indoor track teams. As a team, the woman came in 12th-place out of 51 teams. The men finished in 15th-place out of 53 teams.
Senior Sarah Vance won her first regional title in the shot put. Vance won by six inches over Diane Gmiter from St. Francis. Vance threw for a score of 50-9.50, which equals 15.48 meters.
Senior Roy Richards was the lone winner in an event for the men's team. Richards won the long jump title for the second straight year at the IC4A. His winning leap was recorded at 224-9.25, equivalent to 7.55 meters. This mark was set on his third jump out of six attempts. His margin of victory was 13.25 inches beating Rider's Desmond Hamilton.
The women also got points in the shot put from junior Tina Villa. She hurled the ball 48-2.50, or 14.69 meters. Villa ended up coming in fourth-place in the event.
"The shot put event was a momentum-setter for us," said head coach Vicki Mitchell. "It helped us run quite well and many of the girls were close or tied to their best times of the season."
Another event that Buffalo performed well in was the pole vault. Senior Jessica Lister finished in third-place, while junior Carrie Hinners tied for sixth. Lister earned a season-best mark of 12-7.50, which is 3.85 meters. The top four vaulters each cleared the same height, with Duke's Lara Jones claiming first. Hinner jumped up to 3.65 meters in the event.
Sophomore Fatimah Hill represented the Bulls in the long jump. She placed ninth in her event with a score of 18-2.50.
Buffalo finished with 23.50 points. Connecticut won the women's title with 61 points.
"The girls worked extremely hard to get to this point," Mitchell said. "There are high standards to reach this event and top notch athletes from other schools competed here. For the freshman that made it here, it was a great experience for them to reach this stage."
Other results for the men included senior Todd Joki competing in the long jump. He was able to finish in 11th-place with a jump of 22-3.75, 6.80 meters. Buffalo's best shot-putter was senior George Fetchko with a toss of 53-2.75, equal to 16.22 meters, good for 11th out of 31 throwers.
The Bulls got a strong showing from senior Reggie Rucker in the 55-meter hurdle. Rucker timed in at 7.36 seconds in the finals, which was just .03 off his season-best time. Junior Rayshon Higgins came in ninth-place in the triple jump at 47-9.75, equal to 14.57 meters.
In the 55-meter dash, freshman Ezekiel Porter was able to reach the semi-finals. He sprinted to a time of 6.58 seconds to end up in 15th. In the preliminaries, Porter finished with the third-fastest time in the race clocking in at 6.39 seconds.
One of the best showings for Buffalo at the tournament was by the men's 4x800-meter relay squad. The team consisted of freshman John Bauman, senior Dan McKenna, freshman Ryan Zillman and freshman Josh Durkin. The foursome shattered the school record by finishing the race in 7:42.16, which was good for 11th out of 21 teams. The team beat the old record by more than six seconds.
The men tallied 16 points overall in the Championships. They were tied with Fairleigh Dickinson and Yale. Cornell won the title with 50 points.
Six Buffalo runners were awarded All-East honors after the tournament. Richards, Vance, Villa, Rucker, Lister and Hinners earned recognition for their efforts in the meet. The top eight finishers in each event claimed the distinction.
This was the final meet for Buffalo for the indoor track season as none of its players qualified for the NCAA Championships are March 9-10 at Fayetteville, Ark. Both Bulls teams will open their spring portion of outdoor track and field on March 16-17 when they participate at the UNCW Seahawk Invitational.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
