TUSCALOOSA, AL - The University at Buffalo's men's and women's track and field teams completed their first outdoor meet of the season with some impressive results as the Alabama Relays concluded on Sunday in Tuscaloosa. Although the meet consisted of several events, only the relays were scored as UB's women finished tied for 10th in a 23-team field with 14 points while UB's men scored its lone relay team, placing 20th of 24 with five points.

Byron McKinney

Three records were set on Sunday, two individually and one relay mark. UB's Byron McKinney (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) established a new mark by winning the shot put with a toss of 55-9.75 (17.01m). The throw improved the record that he had shared from last season with Joe Loiacono (Rochester, NY/Greece-Olympia) by three-quarters of an inch. McKinney qualified for NCAA regional competition later in the year with the throw and won the event by more than two feet over the second-place finisher.

Laura Olson

Laura Olson (Lyons, NY/Lyons) tied for second place in the invitational pole vault with a new school-record height of 12-6 (3.81m) to better last season's record by nearly a foot. The pole vault competition at the meet consisted of two divisions, the collegiate, held on Saturday, and the invitational, on Sunday. Biaunca McFarland (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) turned in a third-place finish in the triple jump at 40-7 (12.37m) while Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) also finished third in the hammer throw at 157-3 (47.93m). Olson and McFarland also qualified for the NCAA Regionals with their performances on Sunday.

The UB women also set a new record in the sprint medley relay, an event usually only run at large-scale relay meets. UB's foursome of Jennelle Callender (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Tech), Krystal Seiling (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter), Mindy Gorniak (Erie, PA/McDowell) and Allison Laske (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) turned in a 4:00.47 clocking to shave nearly two seconds off the old record set in 2000 and finish second in the race. UB's men's sprint medley relay team of Gary Asbach (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island), Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville), Joe Clark (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) and Pete Zaccariello (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) missed a school record with their 3:28.25 mark, just .14 seconds shy of the record set last season, and finished fourth.

The women's team of Callender, Seiling, Gorniak and McFarland also turned in a third-place finish in the 4x400 relay with a 3:49.00 showing.

UB's squads head for the Raleigh Relays next weekend.