Cross Country Weekly Release

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Bulls Post Top Marks at Bowling Green Meet

The University at Buffalo men’s and women’s cross country teams finished near the top of the standings at the Bowling Green Falcon Invitational to complete the regular season. The men's team took second with 68 points, trailing only victorious Toledo with 63. The UB women scored 62 overall points to take third behind Bowling Green (28) and Toledo (43). A total of 11 men’s squads and 12 women’s teams were in the races.

Men Place Five Among Top 30 Finishers

Chris Allen

Sophomore Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) paced the Bulls with a third-place finish in the men's 8K race. Bloom finished the course in 25:03.82 to set a season-best mark and cut 43 seconds from his previous best (25:46) set at the Paul Short Invitational on October 3. Bloom finished six seconds behind first place Alex Russeau of Siena Heights and was the top Mid-American Conference runner in the field. A total of 108 runners composed the men's field. The Bulls also had four other finishers among the top 30. Jacob Hagen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) finished seventh in 25:21.87. Chris Allen (Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs) took 16th place in 25:45.60. Dylan Conway (Commack, NY/Hauppauge) finished 18th in 25:47.35 and Scott Dickover (Middletown, NY/Middletown) placed 27th in 26:09.00 to complete the UB scoring. All four times were season bests as the Bowling Green course has proven to give UB its best times over the last two seasons.

Season Bests Abound For Women’s Runners

Ellen Muster

The UB women were paced by senior Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore). Veith took third in a 121-woman field with a 6K clocking of 22:01.96. Veith finished behind a pair of Bowling Green runners, Kara Butler (21:41.15) and Jamie Roflow (21:55.02). Runners from the three MAC women's schools in attendance (UB, Bowling Green and Toledo) comprised the top 11 finishers and 19 of the top 20. Among those Bulls finishing in the top 20 were seniors Jessica Schultz (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) and Alex Bykowska (Poznan, Poland/Third High School of Poznan) and sophomore Ellen Muster (Marion, NY/Marion). Schultz finished fifth in 22:23.09. Bykowska placed 15th in 22:59.37 and Muster was 19th in 23:11.82. All three times were season-best results for the Bulls.

Run, Rest, Repeat

The Bulls have been on a regimen over the past month of running in a meet, then sitting out the following weekend and returning for another meet the next week. This strategy could pay off as the Bulls now prepare for the Mid-American Conference Championships in two weeks. Hosted this season at Eastern Michigan, the meet is slated for November 1 with the men's championship at 11:00 am and the women's championship at noon. Mary Veith finished third in the 104-runner field in 17:48.6 as she earned First-Team All-MAC honors for the second consecutive season. Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) finished the men’s 8K race in 25:49.8 to place 26th overall at the meet at Central Michigan.