CROSS COUNTRY

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Jenny Koeppel

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The University at Buffalo men's and women's cross country teams posted another impressive showing on Saturday with top results at the LaSalle Invitational.

The UB women, currently receiving votes in the FinishLynx national poll, won the team title, scoring 28 points to easily outdistance second-place Moravian with 71 and third-place LaSalle and Penn, who tied with 114 points apiece in the 14-team field. UB's men, meanwhile, took second behind Navy in a 12-team field. The Bulls compiled 70 points to the Midshipmen's 65, while LaSalle (76) and Widener (77) were close behind.

In the women's 5K race, the Bulls used strategy to pack their runners near the top field, but not necessarily win the race. The UB goal on Saturday was to have the Bulls runners stay near the head of the field to score the fewest total points. The tactic worked with five Bulls among the top 10 scorers and seven in the top 17. UB ran as a pack for the first mile and a half and then closed the gap on the remainder of the field. UB senior Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) was the top women's finisher, completing the course in 18:25.90, eight seconds behind first-place Vanessa Andes of East Stroudsburg. Koeppel closed the gap on Andes in the final mile and half. Koeppel trailed Andes by about 30 seconds but used a strong finishing kick in the second half of the race to finish runner-up.

Joining the scoring column for the Bulls was junior Kelli O'Brien (Clifton Springs, NY/Manchester-Shortsville) in third at 19:02.50. Freshman Aleksandra Bykowska (Poznan, Poland/Third High School in Poznan) took seventh in 19:13.00 with junior Jen Jezorski (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside) placing eighth in 19:16.50. UB's final scorer was freshman Sara Rice (Pine City, NY/Elmira Southside) in 11th place at 19:48.40. Junior Megan Housel (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) was 16th in 20:04.10 and sophomore Kayleigh Wheeless (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) was 18th in 20:04.80 to round out the top seven.

Andy Wigton

Many of UB's top male runners sat out the race, but the remainder of the team posted impressive results along the 8K course with junior Andy Wigton (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) pacing the Bulls in second place overall in 26:07.00. Widener's Macharia Yout easily won the race in 25:31.00. Sophomore Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) also placed near the top with a fifth-place finish in 26:22.00.

Other finishers for the Bulls included junior Matt Moynihan (Rochester, NY/Penfield), who placed 17th at 27:00.00. Senior John Flor (Albion, NY/Albion) was 24th in 27:12.00. Freshman Chuck Laderer (Pendleton, NY/Starpoint) was 25th in 27:15.00. Senior Steve Strelick (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) was 33rd in 27:23 and senior Andy Leonard (Spencerport, NY/Churchville-Chili) was 44th in 27:44.00.

The Bulls are home next Saturday when they host the UB Open at Beaver Island State Park. Race times are 11:00 am for the men's 8K and 11:45 am for the women's 5K.