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Men's and Women's Track Teams Finish Third at Miami Invite

Vanessa Roelofsen

OXFORD, OH – After a three-week layoff, the University at Buffalo's men's and women's track and field teams returned to competition on Saturday with third-place finishes for both squads at the Miami Invitational, hosted by Mid-American Conference foe Miami University.

The UB women scored 91 points to finish behind host Miami with 199.50 points and Cincinnati with 107 points in the 14 squad field. The UB men picked up 106 points to finish behind Cincinnati (213) and Miami (125) among the 11 men's teams at the meet.

The Bulls won seven events on the afternoon with the UB women taking four field titles and the UB men winning two field events and one track title. Headlining the winners for the Bulls was Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport) with two women's victories as well as a second-place finish. Vance took the hammer throw with a season-best mark of 178-10 (54.50m), improving on her NCAA East Regional qualifying mark from earlier this season. She also won the shot put with a throw of 46-7.25 (14.20m) to take the event by two feet over teammate Tina Villa (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs), who placed second at 44-3.50 (13.50m). Vance and Villa switched finishes in the women's discus throw with Villa coming out on top at 138-0 (42.06m) while Vance placed second at 131-5 (40.06m).

Jake Madonia

Also winning for the UB women was Vanessa Roelofsen (Alma, Ontario/Norwell District SS) with a top javelin throw of 141-1 (43.01m).

For the UB men, Jake Madonia (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) scored a first-place finish in the discus throw and a second-place nod in the men's shot put. Madonia's winning discus toss was 147-8 (45.00m), a season-best mark for the sophomore. He also turned in a shot put toss of 51-5 (15.67m).

Also picking up a victory for the UB men was Rayshon Higgins (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) in the triple jump. Higgins, in his first competition of the spring, soared a distance of 47-4.50 (14.44m) in the triple jump to win the event by more than a foot and a half. He also placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 20-10 (6.35m).

Rayshon Higgins

Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) won the men's 110-meter hurdles in 15.13 seconds.

On the track, the UB men also produced a pair of second-place finishes. Freshman Ezekiel Porter (Rochester, NY/East) finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.30 seconds. Porter also ran the opening leg of UB's second-place finishing 4x100-meter relay team along with Reggie Rucker (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech), James Graber (West Seneca, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) and Roy Richards (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) as the foursome turned in a 42.58 clocking.

P.J. Godios (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) also had a second-place finish in the javelin. Godios turned in a season-best throw of 164-8 (50.19m).

The Bulls host the UB Open next Saturday, April 21. Field events will comence at 10:00 am while track contests get underway at noon. The competition will be at UB Stadium.