Richards, Higgins, Jezorski, Claim MAC Track Championship Titles

Men finish fifth, women place ninth as league indoor track and field meet concludes

Roy Richards

BOWLING GREEN, OH - It was a banner day for the University at Buffalo as the Bulls claimed three Mid-American Conference individual titles on Saturday to cap off one of the most successful MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in team history. In the two-day meet, UB scored four MAC titles and added three second-place finishes.

UB's men scored 63 points to place fifth among six teams as Eastern Michigan claimed the team title with 171 points. In the women's meet, the Bulls placed ninth at 41.50 points with Akron taking the MAC crown with 118.50 points.

Rayshon Higgins

On Saturday, the UB men swept the horizontal jumps as Roy Richards (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) broke his own school record to win the long jump while Rayshon Higgins (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) won the triple jump. On the women's side, Jen Jezorski (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside) claimed her second overall MAC title and first individual crown with her victory in the mile. All three athletes earned All-MAC first team honors.

Richards won the long jump with a leap of 24-9.75 (7.56m) to eclipse his 2004 record by 4.25 inches. The distance also improved on his IC4A qualification mark for next week's meet in Boston by nearly seven inches and provisionally qualified him for March's NCAA Indoor Championships. It was the first long jump title in UB's MAC history.

Higgins, meanwhile, claimed UB's second-ever MAC triple jump title with his 50-1.25 (15.27m) distance in the event. The jump was eight inches better than his previous best this season and another IC4A qualifying distance. Higgins became the first UB triple jump to win a MAC title since Kamau Halim won in 2001. Halim also won two outdoor triple jump titles in his career with the Bulls.

Jen Jezorski

Jezorski won the mile in 4:53.39 for UB's first women's individual indoor championship in a track event, leading the race wire-to-wire. Jezorski also anchored UB's distance medley relay squad to a MAC title on Friday night for the first-ever relay crown in a MAC meet. She teamed with Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore), Stacy Downer (Philadelphia, PA/Dobbins/Randolph Tech) and Kate Kohout (Clarence, NY/Clarence) for the relay title.

The UB men also earned two second-place, a third-place and two fourth-place finishes on Saturday. The 1,600-meter relay team of Rob McRae (Rexford, NY/Shenendehowa), Brian Heim (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East), Paul Riley (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) and Bryan Weinstein (Getzville, NY/Williamsville North) placed second in 3:20.16, after leading nearly the entire race. UB led for the first three legs of the race, before Central Michigan's anchor runner, passed Weinstein with about 30 meters to go and held on for the first-place finish. Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) also finished second in the mile in 4:13.82. The relay squad and McKenna took home All-MAC second team honors. Women's pole vaulter Jessica Lister (Rodman, NY/South Jefferson) earned All-MAC second team honors on Friday. McRae also finished third in the 400-meters in 48.87 while Riley took fourth in the 800-meters in 1:54.44. Loic Sebuharara (Vestal, NY/Vestal) also earned a fourth-place finish behind Higgins in the triple jump with a personal-best 46-3.50 (14.11m).

Rob McRae

Other point scorers for the UB men included shot putter George Fetchko (Warren, OH/Howland) placing seventh at 53-1.75 (16.20m), Weinstein in the 200-meters in 22.47 and Chris McAllister (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) finishing eighth in the heptathlon with 2,750 points.

For the UB women, freshman Caitlin Godin (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) scored a fourth-place finish in the high jump at 5-8 (1.73m) while Kohout placed fourth in the 800-meters in 2:12.77. Weight thrower Tina Villa (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) also scored points in the women's meet, finishing sixth in the shot put at 46-2 (14.07m), just three-quarters of an inch off her personal best.

Caitlin Godin

Women's head coach Vicki Mitchell was pleased with the overall results of both the men's and women's squads. "We scored places that we didn't think we'd score," said Mitchell. "Everyone we had here performed well, that's all you can ask for. We got as much as could out of everyone, so it's kind of exciting."

Several team members will continue in their amazing postseason next weekend as UB sends squads to the men's IC4A and women's ECAC Championships in Boston. Competition begins Friday at 10:00 am.

Men's scores: Eastern Michigan 171, Kent State 134, Central Michigan 124.50, Akron 116.50, UB 63, Ohio 46.

Women's scores: Akron 118.50, Ball State 105, Western Michigan 75.75, Eastern Michigan 69.50, Central Michigan 61, Toledo 51.75, Kent State 46.50, Miami (OH) 46, UB 41.50, Bowling Green 30.75, Northern Illinois 13.75, Ohio 3.

02/25/2006