Steve Esler

GAINESVILLE, FL – University at Buffalo senior Steve Esler (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) broke the school decathlon record with his victory at the Florida Relays, which concluded Thursday.

Esler established the mark with a total of 7,019 points in the ten-event competition. The total shattered the previous existing mark of 6,662 points set by Matt Streng in 1999. Although Esler only won one event of the ten, he placed second in five others to claim the overall title. North Carolina’s Brad Bailey finished second overall at 6,611 points.

Esler won the high jump competition with a leap of 6-8 (2.03m), just an inch shy of his own school record in the event. He also placed second in the long jump (21-8.25, 6.61m), shot put (43-11.75, 13.40m), 110 hurdles (15.44), discus (127-3, 38.80m) and the 1,500-meter run (4:32.84).

UB teammate Carlos Williams (Jamestown, NY/Westfield Academy) placed 11^th overall among 13 entrants in the meet. Williams won the long jump portion of the decathlon at 21-10.75 (6.67m) and took three third-place finishes, in the shot put (43-4.25, 13.21m), 400-meter run (50.48) and the javelin (173-8, 52.94m).

Women’s competitor Meagan Rogers (Courtenay, BC/George P. Vanier) placed 10^th of 11 entrants in the heptathlon. Rogers had a pair of fourth place finishes in the 100 hurdles (14.97) and shot put (39-5, 12.01m) for her best marks in the seven-event competition.

The remainder of the Bulls will compete this weekend at North Carolina State’s Raleigh Relays.