Bulls Post Impressive Results at Penn and Gina Relays

Ezekiel Porter

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo sent men’s and women’s track and field athletes to both the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Gina Relays in Hillsdale, MI over the weekend and came away with some top marks in both meets.

At the Penn Relays, the Bulls competed against some of the country’s top programs. The highlight for the Bulls was the second-place finish by the men’s 4x100-meter relay squad in the IC4A finals. The foursome of Dan Schichtel, Ezekiel Porter, Dan Harris and Brian Smith broke their own school record with a finish of 40.62, improving on their NCAA East Regional qualifying mark and lowering the school standard by three-hundredths of a second. East Carolina won the race in 40.57.

In the field events at Franklin Field, the Bulls had strong results in both the men’s and women’s shot put competitions. In the women’s shot put Kristy Woods and Shante' White competed in the Eastern Shot Put. Woods placed third at 47-7.25 (14.51m) while White turned in a season-best throw of 45-11.75 (14.01m). Tina Villa competed in the college division and placed fourth with a throw of 46-10 (14.27m). Villa also finished eighth in the college division of the discus with a season-best 151-3 (46.11m). Jake Madonia placed sixth in the Eastern Shot Put with a throw of 53-11 (16.43m) and also posted a season best in the discus at 155-1 (47.28m).

Caitlin Godin

At the Hillsdale meet, the Bulls competed against a large contingent of Division I and II Midwestern schools including a few Mid-American Conference opponents.

Women’s multi-athlete Caitlin Godin won the heptathlon title with a season-best score of 4,821 to take the seven-event competition by 55 points over Michigan’s Tofumi Akeredula, the only other Division I entrant in the field. Godin won four events, setting season-bests in the high jump (5-5.25, 1.66m), shot put (32-2.25, 9.81m) and 800-meters (2:24.91) and also winning the 100-meter hurdles in 14.70.

In the decathlon, Jordan Addison finished fourth. Addiison won the long jump at 20-7.25 (6.28m) and tied for first in the high jump at 6-3.50 (1.92m) for his top finishes in the 10-event competition.

Ryan Bloom

Ryan Bloom won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:31.64, turning in a season-best with the victory.

Lataya Dixon broke her own school record with a victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Dixon took the event in 13.77, shattering the record she posted earlier this season of 14.04. Dixon also placed sixth in the 100-meters in 12.11 and seventh in the high jump at 5-5 (1.65m).

A pair of women’s triple jumpers had season-best leaps to finish near the top in their event. Kim Black finished third at 38-5 (11.71m) while Ajla Glavasevic placed fourth at 38-4 (11.68m).

Lataya Dixon

The Bulls also had strong finishes in the distance races. In the women’s 1,500-meter invitational division, Mary Veith turned in a season-best time of 4:28.13 to finish fifth. In the men’s 1,500-meter open race, Ryan Zillmann finished fifth among 87 entrants in 3:54.71 while Dan Giza placed seventh in 3:56.29. Both marks were season best. Jacob Hagen also took fourth place in the 5,000-meter race in 15:14.23. There were over 100 finishers in the 5,000-meter race.

Jamal Norward finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in a season-best 14.72.

The squads travel to Ithaca for the Cornell Outdoor Invitational next weekend.