UB Sees Toughest Competition of Year at Paul Short Meet

Mary Veith

BETHLEHEM, PA – The Paul Short Cross Country Invitational hosted by Lehigh University gives the University at Buffalo men's and women's teams their toughest competition of the season with many of the more than 40 schools in the fields ranked nationally. The UB women finished 26th among 43 schools with 755 total team points while the UB men placed 34th among 45 teams with 913 points.

West Virginia, ranked ninth in the latest USTFCCCA national poll and Wisconsin, ranked sixth in the poll, won the women's and men's team titles respectively. The top six women's teams (West Virginia, Villanova, Baylor, Wisconsin, Syracuse and Tennessee) and the top four men's finishers (Wisconsin, Syracuse, Villanova and Iona) all appeared in this week's national rankings.

Heading into the meet, the UB women ranked 12th in the Northeast region. Four squads from the regional poll's top 15 competed at the meet with UB finishing behind fourth-ranked Syracuse (fifth overall) and number five Cornell (ninth) but ahead of 13th-ranked Binghamton (31st).

The UB women, racing at 6K for the first time since the Spartan Invitational, were led by Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) as she placed 37th among 301 total entrants in 21:21. Veith's time was nearly a minute faster than her pace on Michigan State's 6K course and was eight seconds faster than her time at last season's Paul Short meet when she placed 32nd among 317 runners.

Three other women placed within the top 200 finishers for the Bulls. Senior Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) finished 137th in 22:37. Senior Alex Bykowska (Poznan, Poland/Third High School of Poznan) took 186th in 23:10. Sophomore Brittany Chilson (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) finished in 197th place in 23:15. All three finished with season-best times. Junior Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie) placed 202nd in 23:19.

Jacob Hagen

The UB men were paced by sophomore Jacob Hagen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home). Hagen 136th overall in 25:29 for the 8K distance. Hagen's time was a 50-second improvement from his previous 8K best, set two weeks ago at the UB Stampede Invitational. A field of 298 entrants were in the men's race.

Finishing behind Hagen was sophomore Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) in 160th place in 25:46, also a season-best as he cut 30 seconds from his previous best. Junior Ryan Zillmann (Deer Park, NY/Half Hollow Hills West) was 197th in 26:08. Freshman Dylan Conway (Commack, NY/Hauppauge) was 200th in 26:10 as both runners shaved nearly a full minute from their 2008 bests for the 8K distance.

West Virginia junior Marie-Louise Asselin won the women's race in 19:38 while Liberty sophomore Sam Chelanga won the men's race in 23:05.

The Bulls next compete at the Bowling Green Falcon Invitational on October 18.