Bulls Brave High Winds in Final Regular Season Tuneup

Jessica Schultz

AKRON, OH – High winds dictated the day as the University at Buffalo men’s and women’s track and field teams completed the regular season schedule at the Campbell/Wright Open at Akron’s Lee Jackson Field. There was no team scoring in the meet that also included MAC foes Kent State and Akron as well as Youngstown State and Ashland.

The UB women won four events on the day. Jessica Schultz took the 1500-meters in a season-best and personal record time of 4:39.80. Schultz battled through the winds to cut more than a second off her top time of the season, set at last weekend’s Cornell meet.

The Bulls had three field event champions. Lataya Dixon equaled her season-best with a victory in the high jump. Dixon cleared 5-7 (1.70m), tying the height she posted at Northeast Ohio Invitational on the same Lee Jackson complex last month.

Other women’s first places included Kim Black and Katie Weston. Black won the triple jump at 38-9 (11.81m), three-quarters of an inch off her season best, as she won by more than a foot over Kent State’s Andreea Patrasc in a strong cross wind.. Weston set a season best in the javelin, taking the event at 142-2 (43.34m), just shy of the regional qualifying distance. Weston won the event by more than 13 feet.

Casey Garbaty

The Bulls also had a few other performances of note with a school record in the men’s javelin and a regional qualifying mark in the women’s pole vault. Freshman Casey Garbaty placed second in the javelin, but improved on his school record with a throw of 209-9 (63.93m). The throw added five feet onto Garbaty’s record and NCAA East Regional qualifying distance. Women’s pole vaulter Tiffany Maskulinski also took second with a season-best height of 12-7.50 (3.85m) to meet the regional qualifying standard.

The UB men also picked up a second-place finish from Chandler Brown in the men’s triple jump at 44-7.50 (13.60m) and Dan Giza in the men’s 1,500-meters in 3:59.81.

UB returns to the Lee Jackson Field for next weekend’s Mid-American Conference Championships in Akron. The league meet runs Thursday through Saturday, May 14-16.