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Cross Country Weekly Release

UB Men Win Stampede Meet, Women Finish Second

The University at Buffalo men’s cross country team won the UB Stampede Invitational team title at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island as both the men's and women's teams hosted their lone home meet of the season. UB’s men scored 22 points to hold off second place Colgate’s 36 to take the team title. The UB women finished second to Colgate, scoring 38 points to the Raiders’ 23. Other local schools, including Hilbert, Medaille and Erie Community College as well as several former UB men’s and women’s runners were entered in the field. Temperatures were in the mid-70s with a strong breeze blowing along the course that borders the Niagara River.

Giza Goes to the Front of the Pack

Senior Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) won the men’s overall individual race in a time of 26:14.6 for the 8K course. Giza moved past second-place finisher Lyle Tolli of Colgate (26:25.5) at the two-mile mark and opened the lead for the remainder of the race, winning by more than 10 seconds.

Dan Healy

The Bulls clinched the team title as UB runners claimed five of the next six spots across the finish line. Sophomore Jason Ayr (Westfield, MA/Westfield) took third place in 26:37.4. Freshman Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) finished fifth in 26:56.7 with Dan Healy (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) sixth in 27:05.6. Jesse Mang (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) was seventh in 27:08.9 and Jacob Hagen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) rounded out the scorers for the Bulls with his eighth-place finish in 27:12.7.

Veith Paces Women’s Runners

In the women’s 5K race, junior Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) completed the course in 18:39.6, winning the race by more than 20 seconds over the next scoring runner, Colgate’s Stacey Marion, who finished third overall in 19:00.6. Veith moved ahead of unattached runner Allison Carr about halfway through the race and increased her margin over the final distance.

Susan Beatty

Joining Veith among the UB scorers was sophomore Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie) in fifth place in 19:27.6. Freshman Megan Niblock (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) was 15th overall in 20:34.9. Three more UB runners finished 18th, 19th and 20th to round out the scoring. Freshman Jackie Bozich (Salisbury Mills, NY/Cornwall Central) crossed the line in 20:59.7 for 18th place while senior Susan Beatty (Holley, NY/Holley) was less than two seconds behind in 21:01.4 for 19th place. Junior Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) took 20th in 21:08.9.

Short Week Prior to the Short Run

It’ll be a short week as the Bulls next compete on Friday afternoon instead of the typical Saturday afternoon racing that they’re used to. The Bulls travel to Bethlehem, PA for the Paul Short Invitational as the meet starts at 1:00 pm. One of the largest and strongest fields the Bulls usually see in the cross country season, most of UB’s best times of the year come out of the Paul Short meet. Because of the large number of entries, most of UB’s runners will compete in the invitational race with any remaining runners competing in the open race.