Bulls Roll to Victories at UB Invitational

Men's results

Brian Smith

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's and women's track and field teams hosted the UB Invitational on Saturday with the Bulls posting solid results. There was no team scoring in the meet that also included entries from Mid-American Conference rival Toledo and local squads from Fredonia State and Erie Community College. The UB men took nine events while the UB women were victorious in 13 of the 36 combined events.

The UB men posted a three school records on Saturday. In the men's 200-meters, Brian Smith lowered his school record with a win in 21.23 seconds breaking the mark he set last week at the Northeastern Ohio Invitational. The time was also an NCAA East Regional qualifying mark. Smith also ran the anchor of the record setting 4x100-meter relay squad as the foursome of Dan Schichtel, Ezekiel Porter, Dan Harris and Smith posted a clocking of 40.65, bettering their previous mark by a quarter-second and posting a regional qualifying time. Schichtel also scored a regional qualifying mark and broke his own record with with his win in the 100-meters in 10.54, cutting the school record he shared with Mike Quagliata (1998) by a tenth of a second.

Dan Giza

The closest race of the day occurred in the men's 1,500-meters as Dan Gizaheld off teammate Jacob Hagen in a photo finish. Giza, who led most of the race, clocked in at 3:59.80 while Hagen made a strong finishing kick to finish in 3:59.81.

Other UB men's track wins came from Ryan Zillmann in the 3,000-meters in 8:48.32 and John Connors in the 400-meter hurdles in a season-best 53.66. UB's men's 4x400-meter relay squad also took first place in 3:15.74.

In the men's field events, Chris Davis took first in the long jump at 6.83m and Matt Gac won the hammer throw at 53.52m.

Fatimah Hill

Senior Fatimah Hill won three events to lead the UB women. Hill won the high jump at 1.62m. She followed with a win in the long jump at 5.72m and finished with a victory in the triple jump at 11.82m.

Tina Villa won two events, taking the discus with a toss of 46.09m and the shot put at 14.50m. Tiffany Maskulinski won the women's pole vault competition, tying her season-best height of 3.65m.

On the track, Kara Black (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) and Allison Grimes lowered their season-best marks to take their sprint specialties. Black won the 200-meters in 24.63, cutting .12 seconds from last week's time while Grimes sliced nine-hundredths of a second from her finish last week with a clocking of 57.15 in the 400-meters. Distance specialist Mary Veith won the 1,500-meters in 4:40.17.

Anna Holmes

UB's women's hurdlers also swept their races. Lataya Dixon, who set the school record in the 100-meter hurdles last week at Akron won on Saturday in 14.35 seconds. Freshman Anna Holmes took the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.85 in her first appearance this season in the event.

The women's relay squads also were victorious. The UB 4x100-meter relay won in 48.34 while the 4x400-meter team took first in 3:57.20.

Former UB athletes were also victorious in a pair of events as they returned to their old stomping grounds. Sheldon Battle broke the UB Stadium record with his win in the men's shot put. Battle posted a throw of 20.02m, bettering the mark set at the 1993 World University Games by Sashko Klymenko of the Ukraine. The throw broke the old mark by 30 centimeters. Hurdler Reggie Rucker, the current UB indoor and outdoor recordholder took the men's 110-meter hurdles in 14.11, just off his UB record of 14.05.

The squads will compete next weekend at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Gina Relays in Hillsdale, MI.