Divide and conquer. The track teams did just that this weekend, as the squads were broken into two groups to compete. A handful of members traveled to Mid-American Conference foe Akron for the Akron Open while the rest of individuals traveled down to New York City to compete in the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
The two day meet at Akron was a non-scoring meet for teams, which gave the Bulls a chance to shine individually.
"This was a chance to get some individual highs and set some performance marks to use later in the season," said Bulls head coach Vicki Mitchell. "We do have a lot of freshmen on the team this year and I think they are really starting to see how meets work. Both physically and mentally."
Freshman Eugene Kennedy highlighted the men's performances with a second-place finish in the men's high jump. Kennedy posted a personal-best mark of 6-9 to earn an IC4A qualifying slot. Senior Andy Leonard also posted a second-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter run in 8:50.18. Senior Dan McKenna was fifth with a time of 8:54.72.
"Our athletes are starting to set goals for themselves, having good warm-ups and understanding how their performances fit in to what we are trying to accomplish as a team," Mitchell said. "I think we will be scoring well in the events where the individuals can step up and can get some support, and score well as a team."
The men's 1,600-meter relay squad scored a season-best mark and just missed the IC4A qualifying minimum by a fraction of a second. The team of freshmen John Bauman and Ezekiel Porter, as well as seniors Brian Heim and Paul Riley finished fourth overall in 3:19.95, just five-hundredths of a second off the IC4A pace. Buffalo's 800-meter runners set season-best marks in their races. Sophomore Mary Veith was fourth in the women's race in 2:17.57, while freshman Ryan Zillman finished 11th for the men in 1:55.40.
Heading to the Big Apple, the Bulls were faced with some of the top Division I teams in the country, Southeastern Conference powerhouses such as LSU, Arkansas and Tennessee made the trip to the infamous Armory Track and Field Center to strut their stuff. Again, this was a time for individuals to show what they were made of.
The meet was highlighted by senior Roy Richards who finished second in the men's long jump, breaking his own record by an inch and half, with a leap of 24-11. The jump also gave the senior an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Richards finished behind Arkansas' Mychael Stewart an All-Southeastern Conference performer. Richards topped jumpers from top programs including Arkansas, North Carolina State, LSU and Texas in the event. Richards also competed in the 60-meter dash, finishing tied for 28th in a field of 76 runners in 6.96 seconds.
Richards' jumping buddy, senior Rayshon Higgins had a fifth-place showing in the championship division of the men's triple jump. Higgins cleared 50 feet to win his flight and improve on his IC4A qualifying mark by more than 16 inches.
"A main reason we go down there is to getting them exposed to a very high level of competition and what it is like to compete against them," Mitchell said. "Hopefully when we come to our conference meet and to our ECAC meet, they will be ready to step up to that level of competition."
Women's senior thrower Sarah Vance had a third-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 51-10, behind throwers from Texas A&M and Kentucky. Junior Tina Villa also competed in the event, placing 13th at 46-11. Vance also placed 11th in the weight throw at 55-11. Other finishes from the New Balance games include senior Jessica Lister who finished 11th in the pole vault and sophomore Jake Madonia finished 11th in the men's shot put with a toss of over 54 feet.
"It gives them the confidence that they can compete at the next level," Mitchell said. "And with competing at Akron today it was good preparation to get a feel for the track since we will be back here in a few weeks."
The Bulls will be as one next week as they head to the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup at University Park, Penn. It is another two-day meet with day one set to start at 5:30 P.M. on Friday.
