Bulls Kickoff Outdoor Track Season at Seahawk Invitational

Sarah Vance

WILMINGTON, NC – The University at Buffalo kicked off the outdoor track and field season at the annual Seahawk Invitational with second-place team finishes in the men’s and women’s competitions and several UB athletes scoring individual wins.

The Bulls finished behind the host North Carolina-Wilmington on the scoreboard in both the men’s and women’s meets. UB’s men scored 165 points to UNCW’s 196 while the UB women tallied 123 points to finish behind the Seahawks’ 199. Nine squads competed in both meets.

Ezekiel Porter

The UB women won four events, highlighted by a sweep from Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport) in her three competitions. Vance, who competed at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships last week in the shot put, picked up where she left off with victories in the shot put, discus and hammer throws. Vance won the shot put with a toss of 14.75m and the hammer at 54.44m, establishing NCAA regional qualifying standards in both events. She also won the discus throw at 45.24m. Tina Villa (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) finished second to Vance in the shot put at 14.00m and third in the discus at 42.30m.

Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) was the lone UB woman to win on the track. The sophomore captured the 800-meter run in 2:19.62.

For the UB men, freshman sprinter Ezekiel Porter (Rochester, NY/East) won the 100- and 200-meter races. Porter won the 100 in 10.84 seconds and captured the 200 in 22.08 seconds, besting second-place finisher John Carr of UNCW in both races.

Eugene Kennedy

Freshman Eugene Kennedy (Troy, NY/Troy) won two jumping events for the Bulls. Kennedy took the men’s high jump at 1.98m and then followed with a victory in the triple jump at 13.16m. Freshman Greg Tarshus (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) finished second to Kennedy in the high jump at 1.93m.

Sophomore Alex Stamatakis (Hania, Crete, Greece/First Technical & Vocational School of Crete) won the men’s discus and hammer throws. Stamatakis won the discus with a toss of 47.34m, just shy of his top mark from last season. He took the hammer at 48.60m, improving on last season’s top throw by nearly a full meter.

Alex Stamatakis

Senior Roy Richards (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) and sophomore Jake Madonia (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) also won field events for the Bulls. Richards captured the long jump at 7.19m while Madonia took the shot put at 16.21m for a new personal best in the outdoor event. Madonia led the Bulls to a one-two-three finish in the shot put as George Fetchko (Warren, OH/Howland) was second at 15.27m and Stamatakis was third at 15.27m.

The Bulls return to North Carolina next weekend for the Wake Forest Open in Winston-Salem on March 23 and 24.