UB Cross Country Weekly Release

Click here for a PDF version of the release

Rainy Run at Reif Meet

The University at Buffalo men’s and women’s cross country teams closed out the regular season in sloppy conditions on Friday afternoon at the Reif Memorial Run hosted by Cornell University. There was no team scoring as the Bulls rested many of their top runners in preparation for this weekend’s Mid-American Conference Championships. Temperatures in the low 40s with rain and windy conditions provided a soft footing on the Moakley Course of Cornell’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Course.

Sprehe, Argentine Head Finishers

Christine Sprehe

Heading the women’s performances on the 5K course was senior Christine Sprehe. Sprehe was UB’s top women’s finisher with a 19:54.3 clocking to take seventh place in a 51-runner field. Also finishing in the top 20 for the Bulls were four other runners. Freshman Leah Wightman placed 11th overall in 20:14.7. Gillian Taylor and Brittany Chilson finished in 17th and 18th place, respectively. Taylor crossed the finish line in 20:39.6 with Chilson turning in a 20:41.7 showing. Lauren Cavaliere was 20th in 20:46.2.

Rob Argentine

Freshman Rob Argentine was the top finisher for the UB men. Argentine completed the men’s five-mile course in 27:44.6 to take 20th place among 55 entrants. Bobby Binaiszewski was 23rd in 27:49.5. Scott Dickover placed 30th in 28:19.3 while Ryan Poley took 31st in 28:27.1.

Mitchell’s Musings

Head coach Vicki Mitchell commented following the Cornell meet, “This is a nice meet to give a lot of our “B” runners the chance to compete. A few of the runners that will compete at MAC’s used this as a tune-up. Competition was good from Cornell and Syracus, and the course is a tough and hilly course, made more technical by a steep and muddy hill into the gorge and back up.”

With the Bulls headed for this weekend’s MAC Championships, she commented, “The teams will go in with the expectation of performing their best as we will be competing against mostly regionally-ranked teams from the Great Lakes Region. The meet has always exceptionally high levels of competition and we’ll hope to capitalize on the opportunity.”

Bulls Travel to Athens for MAC Championships

Ryan Bloom

The Bulls head to Ohio University for the 2009 MAC Championships on Saturday, October 31. The Bulls will look to improve on last year’s finishes at the 2008 meet in Ypsilanti, MI. The men placed sixth among nine squads as Ryan Bloom earned All-MAC First Team honors. The women took seventh in a 12-team field.