Cornell was not a gracious host this weekend, as the university hosted the Cornell Upstate Challenge for the men's and women's track teams. Both of Cornell's squads took first place, easily winning over four other squads including the Bulls who finished in second place in both the men's and women's events.
The men's squad finished with 177 points, which was second to Cornell's 281. The women also finished right behind Cornell, 285-136. Other schools competing were Syracuse University, Ithaca College and Colgate.
"This weekend was a good weekend because we had a majority of the team competing," said head coach Vickie Mitchell. "When we look at the overall picture, we had three school records between our men and women's teams, we had a number of ECAC qualifiers, and IC4A qualifiers."
Leading the way for the women was senior thrower Sarah Vance who took first-place in both the weight throw and the shot put. Her weight throw of 58-1.25 was an IC4A qualifying mark. Her shot put throw of 50-8 set a new school record that was previously held by Faith Thompson.
Senior long jumper Celestine Coney also set a new school record, winning the event with a leap of 18-9. Coney's jump surpassed a 10-year-old record, which was previously set by Terry Scheme.
Also winning for the women was sophomore Mary Veith. She took the 800-meter run in a time of 2:19.62.
On the men's side, freshman Ezekiel Porter set a new school record taking first place in the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.77 seconds. Porter's time eclipsed that of previous record holder Tim Dance. Porter was a two-time winner, as he also took first-place in the 200-meter dash.
Buffalo dominated the shot put event, as both sophomore Jake Madonia and senior George Fetchko set IC4A qualifying marks in the event. Madonia's winning throw of 52-8 left Fetchko in third with a throw of 52-4.
Senior Roy Richards set an IC4A qualifying mark with in the long jump with a winning leap of 24-5.75. Also qualifying for the IC4A were senior Todd Joki and Reggie Rucker. Rucker placed second in the 60-meter hurdle with a time of 8.0 seconds, while Joki finished right behind with a time of 8.2 seconds.
The last two first-place finishers for the Bulls were senior Andy Leonard and freshman Matt Kaiser. Leonard took the win in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:43.06. Kaiser took first-place in the 800-meter run, with a time of 1:59.11.
The Cornell Upstate Challenge, allowed the Bulls to compete with a very large squad, meaning most of the athletes were able to gain experience. Mitchell believes this will help the squad when they face tougher competition.
"I think for a lot of our athletes this gives them a lot of confidence going into our competition this Friday and Saturday," Mitchell said. "We will compete at a smaller level at Penn State, the competition level is extremely high. It's an opportunity for our athletes to get some competition against some top Division I athletes.
Despite all of these top finishes, Mitchell believes the team still can improve.
"We still know that there's a lot of room for improvement within the individuals and within the team," Mitchell said. "I think we're going to continue to see improvements within the athletes."
The men and women will stay on the road, as they will compete at the Penn State National Invite this weekend before heading to the Akron Open. This meet will be good practice for the Buffalo squads, as the MAC Indoor Track Championships, held Feb. 2-3, will also be held in Akron.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
