CROSS COUNTRY

Men's Roster  |  Women's Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

Cross Country Weekly Release

Bulls Open 2007 Campaign at Akron Meet

The University at Buffalo’s men’s and women’s cross country squads opened the 2007 season at Akron’s Tommy Evans Invitational at Firestone Metropark. The UB women placed second behind the host Zips in the four-team meet while the men finished third overall as Mount Union and Youngstown State were also included in the field.

Newcomer Soblosky Leads Women’s Squad

Jessica O'Neill

The UB women picked up a top performance from sophomore transfer Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie). Soblosky, who ran at Iona last season, placed 10th overall. She finished the 5K course in 19:52. Soblosky stayed with the UB contingent early in the race, then moved up on her own, working her way from 30th to 10th during the race. Akron women crossed the finish line with the first eight spots in the race with Larisa Arcip winning the individual race in 19:08 as 41 runners were in the women’s field.

Other women’s placers for the Bulls included juniors Jessica O’Neill (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) and Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge). O’Neill finished 14th overall in 20:15, after missing much of last season with an injury. O’Neill also cut nearly two minutes off last season’s Tommy Evans finish when she turned in a 22:07.30 in the 2006 meet. Schultz, coming off her Most Improved honor from last season, crossed the finish line in 20:44 to place 16th. Freshman Megan Niblock (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) finished 17th in 20:54.

Ayr Tops Men’s Finishers

Jason Ayr

The UB men were led by sophomore Jason Ayr (Westfield, MA/Westfield), who finished the four-mile course in 21:35. Ayr, last season’s Top Newcomer finished 10th overall in conditions slightly better than last season’s meet in Akron, although Saturday’s heat and humidity took a toll on all the runners. Ayr cut 17 seconds off last season’s mark of 21:52 when he finished seventh as a freshman.

Freshman Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) was right behind Ayr, taking 11th in 21:38. Two other freshmen, Jacob Hagen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) and Chris Allen (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs), were UB’s next finishers. Hagen placed 21st in 22:04 while Allen took 22nd in 22:05. Akron’s Jason Headman won the men’s individual race in 20:41 as 48 runners competed.