UB Men Take First, Women Second at Tommy Evans Invite

Ryan Bloom

AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo men’s and women’s cross country teams kicked off the 2008 campaign on Saturday afternoon at the annual Tommy Evans Invite hosted by the University of Akron.

The UB men scored 33 points to hold off second-place Akron’s 40 while the UB women tallied 46 points to place second behind the host Zips with 17.

One race was run in each class with Division I and III teams scored separately. In the men’s race, sophomore Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) was the top finisher for the Bulls as he placed third overall and second among Division I entrants in 21:06 on the four-mile course. Bloom finished just two seconds behind Akron’s Andy Knapp and six seconds off the pace of the overall top placer, Dan Whisler of Mount Union (21:00).

Sophomore Jacob Hagen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) turned in a fourth-place finish in 21:09 for UB’s second scorer.

Other men’s scorers included Dylan Conway (Commack, NY/Hauppauge) in 21:27 for 12th overall, Scott Dickover (Middletown, NY/Middletown) in 21:37 for 15th overall and Ryan Zillmann (Deer Park, NY/Half Hollow Hills West) in 21:44 for 17th overall.

Finishing outside of UB’s scorers were Ryan Poley (Williamsville, NY/Sweet Home) in 22:16 for 21st place, Chris Allen (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs) in 22:23 for 22nd place and John Inzina (Clarence, NY/Clarence) in 22:25 for 23rd place.

Jessica Schultz

In the women’s 5K race, Akron took five of the top seven spots to claim the team title with UB racers placing fifth and sixth in the field. Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) finished fifth in 19:06 while Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie) was sixth in 19:26.

Alex Bykowska (Poznan, Poland/Third High School of Poznan) was 10th in 19:43 with Jackie Bozich (Salisbury Mills, NY/Cornwall Central) 11th in 19:54. Brittany Chilson (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) was UB’s final scorer in 15th place in 20:09. Ellen Muster (Marion, NY/Marion Central) and Megan Niblock (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) both finished in 20:10 for 15th and 16th places overall.

The Bulls travel to East Lansing, MI for next week’s meet. The Spartan Invitational is slated for Friday, September 12 at 1:00 pm.