In their final tune up before the Mid-American Conference Championships, the Buffalo men's and women's indoor track and field teams were in action Friday evening at the Zips Open in Akron, Ohio. Although the event consisted of only individual scoring, the Bulls competed well as a team and several athletes turned in their best performances of the season.
"The main purpose of this meet is to get tuned up before the conference championships," said women's head coach Vicki Mitchell. "This is our final chance to perfect anything we need to work on...We had a number of kids who had personal and season bests, and others used this opportunity to rest up and get healthy before next weekend."
On the women's side, the Bulls earned a pair of first place finishes, as sophomore Tiffany Maskulinski finished first in the pole vault and freshman Sarah Krott won the triple jump.
Maskulinski not only won the pole vault, but she beat her nearest competitor by 15 centimeters and improved her season best mark by two centimeters, which is a significant increase according to Mitchell. The mark of 3.97 meters was also an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Krott won the triple jump with a distance of 11.23m.
In addition to the first place finishes, three Bulls' had second place finishes. Sophomore Allison Grimes finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.91. Junior Mary Veith finished in second place in the mile run clocking in at 5:02.44. Senior Tina Villa also took second place in the shot put for the Bulls with a score of 14.63 m.
Buffalo sophomore Octavia Johnston had strong performances in several events finishing second in the triple jump with a 10.97 m leap. She also finished third in both the long jump with a total of 5.52 m and the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.84.
A number of personal records were also set. Freshman Gillian Taylor recorded her best time of 2:19:50 in the 800-meter run. Freshman Megan Niblock put in her best time in the mile run at 5:32.91. Freshman Samantha Tomczak had her best performance in the 60-meter hurdles finishing in 9.56.
On the men's side, Buffalo was held to only one individual winner as the Bulls took first, second, and third in the triple jump. Buffalo freshman Greg Losi won the triple jump with a distance of 13.74 m. Following him, sophomore Eugene Kennedy took second with a jump of 13.31 m and freshman Chandler Brown finished third with a distance of 12.89 m.
Sophomore Ryan Zillmann finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:54:78.
Senior Jesse Mang and freshman Ryan Bloom both turned in personal bests in the mile run as Mang finished in 4:20 and Bloom followed with 4:25:73. Buffalo freshman Matt Gac threw for a personal best 15.64 m in the shot put, and tied his personal best in the weight throw with a distance of 17.43 m.
Up next for Buffalo are the MAC Championships. The Bulls will look to be healthy and rested heading into the championships.
"There are some kids who are sick, and there are some that are injured, so we hope to get rested and be healthy for next week," Mitchell said.
The Championships are being hosted by Eastern Michigan, and the action begins Thursday, February 28 and ends on Saturday, March 1.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
