BINGHAMTON, NY - The University at Buffalo men's and women's track and field teams swept to first-place finishes at the SUNY Centers Championships in Binghamton. UB's women scored 247 points to finish ahead of runner-up Binghamton (165), Albany (149) and Stony Brook (61) in the four-team meet. The men's squad tallied 216 points ahead of Albany (198), Binghamton (134) and Stony Brook (92). UB's women won 14 of the 19 events while the men placed first in 11 events.

Biaunca McFarland

Biaunca McFarland (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) and Joe Clark (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) were named Most Valuable Athletes at the meet. McFarland returned to her hometown to capture two individual first-place victories and a relay crown. McFarland won the 200 meters in a personal-best 25.46 and the triple jump at 39-8 (12.11m), her best performance of the season. She also anchored the Bulls' winning 4x400 relay squad, along with Meagan Rogers (Courtenay, B.C./George P. Vanier), Mindy Gorniak (Erie, PA/McDowell) and Alison Laske (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy), in 3:53.50.

Joe Clark

Clark, meanwhile, sprinted to first-place finishes in the 200 meters (21.85) and 400 meters (47.76). He also anchored both of UB's winning relay squads. The 4x100 team of Bryan Weinstein (Getzville, NY/Williamsville North), Pete Otovic (DeWitt, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt), Emeka Uche (Rochester, NY/East Rochester) and Clark won in a school-record time of 41.53. Otovic, Chris Lenz (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South), Weinstein and Clark won the 4x400 relay in 3:16.56.

Sarah Fletcher (Ridgeway, Ontario/Ridgeway-Crystal Beach) won three events taking the hammer throw at 181-5 (55.30m), the discus at 142-10 (43.54m) and the javelin at 107-0 (32.65m). Rogers was a double-winner, sweeping the 100 hurdles in 14.76 and the 400 hurdles in 1:03.75.

Other individual women's winners included Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) in the shot put at 42-11 (13.08m), April Pabilonia (Clarence, NY/Clarence) in the 100 meters in 12.29, Jessica Moldovan (Warren, PA/Warren Area) in the 3000 steeplechase in 11:19.31, Chrissie Matthews (Waterford, NJ/Edgewood) in the high jump at 5-2 (1.57m) and Laske in the 800 meters in 2:15.67.

Men's thrower Byron McKinney (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) won both the shot put at 52-9 (16.09m) and the hammer at 160-7 (48.95m). Other men's individual winners included Eric Czubaj (Sloan, NY/JFK) in the 1500 in a personal-best 3:55.15, Rick Stewart (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) in the 3000 steeplechase in 9:27.91, Gary Asbach (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) in the long jump at 21-7 (6.58m), Dan Simpson (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili) in the pole vault at 14-5.50 (4.41m) and Uche in the 100 meters in 11.04.

The Bulls are next in action at the prestigious Penn Relays next weekend.