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Jenny Koeppel

TOLEDO, OH – For the second straight week, the University at Buffalo’s women’s cross country team placed first in the team standings, taking Saturday’s Central Collegiate Invitational. The UB women scored 75 points in the 11-team field, holding off Mid-American Conference foes Western Michigan (83) and Akron (87) for the team title. The UB men placed a strong third among eight squads with 88 points, just eight points behind second-place Akron. Central Michigan won the men’s meet with 25 points.

UB senior Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) won the individual title with her 17:49 clocking along the 5K course. It was the second straight victory for Koeppel, who also took last Saturday’s Tommy Evans Invitational in Akron and earned MAC Women’s Runner of the Week.

The Bulls placed four runners among the top 20 finishers. Aside from Koeppel, junior Jen Jezorski (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside) turned in a strong performance with a fourth-place finish in 18:13. Freshman Aleksandra Bykowska (Poznan, Poland/Third High School of Poznan) was 15^th in 18:35 and junior Kelli O’Brien (Clifton Springs, NY/Manchester-Shortsville) placed 17^th in 18:37.

Andy Wigton

The UB men picked up an eighth-place finish from junior Andy Wigton (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena). Wigton completed the 10K course in 25:41. Sophomore Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) placed 18^th in 26:26 and freshman Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) was 21^st in 26:35.

The meet featured plenty of Mid-American Conference competition with eight women’s squads and five men’s teams representing the league. The UB women, who finished ninth of the 13 MAC squads at last season’s league championship meet, finished ahead of several of the league’s top programs. Western Michigan, Akron and host Toledo placed in the top four at last year’s championships.

Head coach Vicki Mitchell was enthusiastic about both her men’s and women’s performances on Saturday. “This is the course that we will be running at the conference meet in six weeks,” she said. “So it's a good test for our team. With the tightness of the [women’s] race between us, Western Michigan and Akron, it could have gone any way.”

The Bulls travel to Bethlehem, PA for next weekend’s Paul Short Invitational. The meet, hosted by Lehigh University, is a regular fixture on UB’s schedule and will give the Bulls the chance of going against another strong field, including several top programs from the Northeast. Racing is slated to begin at 9 am.