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Bulls Find Success at Wake Forest Open

Mary Veith

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – The University at Buffalo men’s and women’s track and field teams completed action on Saturday at the Wake Forest Open with a pair of victories, five regional qualifiers and a new school record in the men’s hurdles. There was no team scoring in the meet in a competition field comprised of over 50 colleges in addition to several former Olympians and world champions.

UB scored victories in two events. In the women’s 3,000-meter run, sophomore Mary Veith (Derby, NY/Lake Shore) topped the field with a clocking of 9:49.24, just four seconds off the UB record. Veith won the race by a second and a half over Wake Forest’s Nicole Schappert.

Greg Tarshus

The men’s team picked up a victory in the B section finals of the high jump. Freshman Greg Tarshus (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) took the event with a leap of 6-6.75 (2.00m), bettering his top mark from last week’s meet at North Carolina-Wilmington and giving the Bulls their best mark of the season. Freshman teammate Russell Cameron (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) was sixth in the event at 6-2.75 (1.90m).

Junior Vanessa Roelofsen (Alma, Ontario/Norwell District SS) picked up a second-place finish in the women’s javelin with a throw of 149-4 (45.52m), earning an NCAA East Regional qualifying mark for the third time in her career. Duke’s Dainia Pucurs won the event with a toss of 168-11 (51.50m).

UB’s women high jumpers had a pair of third-place finishes in the two sections of their events. Sophomore Caitlin Godin (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) earned an NCAA regional mark in the A section with a jump of 5-8.75 (1.75m). Meanwhile, senior Patrice Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) finished third in the B section at 5-5 (1.65m).

Reggie Rucker

Senior Reggie Rucker (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) earned a spot in the finals of the men’s 110-meter hurdles. Rucker won his heat of the finals in 14.25 seconds, finishing fourth overall and breaking Todd Joki’s (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) record of 14.31 seconds. The time was also good enough for Rucker to earn a spot in the NCAA East Regionals in May. Joki also competed in the finals, finishing 10th in 14.84 seconds.

Senior Roy Richards (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) also had a fourth-place finish in the men’s long jump with a regional qualifying mark of 24-1 (7.34m).

UB’s weight throwers also had strong finishes. In the discus, sophomore Alex Stamatakis (Hania, Crete, Greece/First Technical & Vocational School of Crete) had a fifth-place finish in the men’s event with a throw of 167-7 (51.07m), bettering last week’s mark by more than 12 feet. In the women’s event, senior Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport) was sixth at 150-3 (45.80m) while junior Tina Villa (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) was seventh at 146-10 (44.76m). Vance also improved on her regional qualifying mark in the shot put with a throw of 48-6 (14.78m) to finish fifth and placed sixth in the women’s hammer at 176-2 (53.69m). Villa was 10th at 46-8 (14.22m) in the women’s shot put.

The Bulls are off until April 7 when they face Mid-American Conference competition at the Ohio Bobcats Invitational.