While running through the warm and spongy grass on Saturday at Beaver Island State Park, the men's cross country team claimed a first-place victory and the ladies claimed fourth-place in the Bulls only home meet of the year.
The UB Stampede Invitational brought nine colleges to Grand Island: Cornell, Niagara, Canisius, Central Michigan, D'Youville, LeMoyne, Erie Community College, St. Bonaventure, Keuka, Medaille and Hilbert.
The men's team barely pulled out the victory over the Big Red, defeating Cornell by a mere two points in the eight-kilometer trot. The Bulls recorded 28 points and had three runners cross the finish line before any other team.
Buffalo senior Dan McKenna came in the top spot in the men's race with a time of 27:04.90. Two other Bulls runners followed immediately behind McKenna, as senior Andy Leonard and junior Jesse Mang came in second and third.
Leonard finished in 27:10.00 and Mang in 27:14.20 to hold off the top runner for Cornell Peter Loy, who finished fourth in 27:15.80. Cornell and Buffalo claimed every spot in the top 18 and the Bulls had a 45 second advantage over every school besides Cornell.
Other Bulls scoring points was junior Chuck Laderer who came in ninth place at 27:42.60 and senior Dave Welby who finished in 13th place at 27:45.40.
This was the second year in a row that McKenna won the Invitational. At last year's event he came in at a time of 25:59.9.
"The men ran aggressively," said head coach Vicki Mitchell in a press release. "They pulled out the win which was nice and a little bit of a surprise plus the weather held up for us."
The weather on Grand Island played a role in the meet as a light rain during the women's race created clearing skies for the men's race and the rain made the grass surface wet and muddy which was an advantage for the men's team.
"It was a slow, muddy and wet course," said Central Michigan head coach Karen Lutzke in a press release.
The Bulls struggled in the women's five-kilometer race only placing one runner in the top 10. Sophomore Mary Veith was the highest finisher for the Buffalo, as she took third-place in a time of 18:28.30.
Veith was coming off a huge win last weekend at the Toledo Invitational were she came in second but was given first-place after her competitor was disqualified for going too far off course. It was Veith's first individual cross-country title in her collegiate career.
"Mary Veith ran a nice race," Mitchell said. "I was pleased with her."
Cornell runners dominated the women's race. The Big Red had four-runner finish in the top five. Cornell's Toni-Lynn Salucci won the race. She finished in 18:16.60. Following behind her was teammate Nyam Kagwima who came in 10 seconds later at 18:16.60.
Bull's junior Alekesanda Bykowska was the second women's runner to finish, placing 15th, with a time of 19:34.20. Also placing in the scoring was senior Kate Kohout finished with a time of20:06.00 for 24th place. Freshmen Christine Sprehe came in 34th place at 20:34.30 and the final Bull to finish was senior Karen Corey at 20:43.40 for 38th place.
The final standings for the teams competing in the women's meet were Cornell with 20 points, then Central Michigan at 68 followed by Colgate recording 75 team points and Buffalo rounding out at 89 points.
The Bulls will travel to Lehigh University's Paul Short Invitational next Saturday. The first race is slated to start at 2 p.m.
