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Track Teams Place Second at Cornell Challenge

George Fetchko

ITHACA, NY – The University at Buffalo’s men’s and women’s indoor track teams both took home second-place finishes on Saturday at the Cornell Upstate Challenge at Barton Hall in Ithaca, NY.

In the men’s meet, the Bulls totaled 164.50 points to finish second to homestanding Cornell’s 295. Ithaca was third at 51, followed by Syracuse (41) and Colgate (36.50). UB’s women scored 111 points while Cornell took the team title with 295. Syracuse (59), Ithaca (43) and Colgate (32) rounded out the field.

The UB men established two new qualifying marks for the IC4A Championships in March and improved on three others. George Fetchko (Warren, OH/Howland) scored a victory in the weight throw with a toss of 55-5.50 (16.90m) for a season-best and IC4A mark. He also finished second in the shot put at 53-2.75 (16.22m). Mike Giordano (Springville, NY/Springville) won the shot put competition at 54-6.50 (16.62m), improving his IC4A qualifying mark set last week at the season-opening Black Squirrel Classic by 17 inches.

Rayshon Higgins

UB’s horizontal jumpers also posted impressive marks with Rayshon Higgins (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) winning the triple jump at 47-9 (14.55m), an improvement of a inch off last week’s leap. Reggie Rucker (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) finished second in the triple jump at 46-2.75 (14.09m). Roy Richards (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) won the long jump at 24-3 (7.39m), improving on his IC4A mark by almost four inches. Richards also placed second in a pair of events on the track, the 60-meters (7.06) and the 200-meters (22.81).

Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) won the 5,000-meter run in 15:27.24 while the 3,200-meter relay squad won in 7:59.95.

Freshman Rob McRae (Rexford, NY/Shenendehowa) finished second in the 500-meter run in 1:04.89, establishing an IC4A qualifying mark. Other second-place finishers for the Bulls included Paul Riley (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) in the mile (4:24.91), Chris McClure (Trumansburg, NY/Charles O. Dickerson) in the 1,000-meters (2:31.78), Alexandros Stamatakis (Hania, Crete, Greece/First Technical & Vocational School of Crete) in the weight throw (51-11.25, 15.83m) and the 1,600-meter relay team (3:26.94).

Tina Villa

For the UB women, Tina Villa (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) won the shot put at 46-2.75 (14.09m), improving her ECAC qualifying distance and personal-best marks by more than a foot.

Three other Bulls won events, including a pair of personal-bests on the track. Kate Kohout (Clarence, NY/Clarence) won the 500-meters in 1:17.08 while Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) won the 800-meters in 2:15.82, each improving on their best times. Jessica Lister (Rodman, NY/South Jefferson) won the pole vault at 11-5.75 (3.50m).

Caitlin Godin

Freshman Caitlin Godin (Rochester, NY/Greece-Arcadia) finished second in the high jump at 5-8.75 (1.75m) to earn an ECAC qualifying height and establish a new personal-best mark. Other UB jumpers to finish second included Dana Ventrone (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) in the long jump (18-5.25, 5.62m) and Carrie Hinners (Maple Grove, MN/Maple Grove) in the pole vault (10-11.75, 3.35m). Both were season-best marks. Hinners tied for the place with Cornell’s Joan Casey.

Both of UB’s women’s relay teams finished second. The 1,600-meter relay team clocked in at 4:02.30 while the 3,200-meter relay team earned a time of 9:34.53.

Both teams travel to the Penn State National Invitational next weekend.