Athletes of the Week - 05/17/2004

Steve Esler (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) of the men's track and field team won the Mid-American Conference decathlon title with a two-day total of 6,998 points, rallying from fourth place after Thursday's first day of competition. He won both of Friday's throwing events, the discus and javelin, throwing a season-best 137-2 (41.82m) in the discus while also capturing the javelin with a throw of 167-11 (51.19m). He also finished second in the pole vault portion of the event with a season-best height of 14-5.25 (4.40m). On Saturday, Esler scored a third-place finish in the open high jump, tying his season-best mark with a height of 6-8.75 (2.05m).

Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) of the women's track and field team won the Mid-American Conference title in the 10,000-meter run, taking the race in 35:43.27, nearly 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. She became UB's first MAC track event champion, breaking the previous 10,000-meter record of 36:21.54 set by Stacey Strothmann in 1995, the second-oldest record remaining on the women's outdoor list. Koeppel completed her strong distance performance on Saturday with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter race in 16:59.32.

05/17/2004