CLEVELAND, OH - University at Buffalo men's track and field athlete Byron McKinney (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) has earned the Mid-American Conference's first men's outdoor track Athlete of the Week award, the league has announced.

Byron McKinney

McKinney, a senior thrower, broke his own school record at the season-opening Alabama Relays over the weekend with a victory in the shot put. McKinney won the event with a throw of 55-9.75 (17.01m) and also qualified for NCAA regional competition at the end of the regular season. The mark bettered the school record of 55-9 (16.99m) that McKinney shared with Joe Loiacono (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) from last season. McKinney also placed sixth in the hammer throw at 161-1 (49.10m) at the first outdoor meet of the season.

McKinney also holds the UB school record for the indoor shot put at 55-10.25 (17.02m), which he set in 2002.

UB continues the outdoor season this weekend at North Carolina State's Raleigh Relays.