TRACK & FIELD

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Patrice Coney

ATHENS, OH - The University at Buffalo women's track and field team remained in first place after the second day of the Mid-American Conference Championships at Ohio University's Goldsberry Track. The UB men stand seventh in the team scoring.

Through seven events of the 13-team women's meet, UB has 45 points with Kent State in second at 39. Ball State (33), Western Michigan (31), Northern Illinois (22), Miami (OH) (20.5), Central Michigan (20), Eastern Michigan (18), Bowling Green (18), Akron (15.5), Ohio (7), Toledo (3) and Marshall (1) trail in the standings.

After eight events, Central Michigan easily leads the seven-team men's meet with 89 points. Kent State is second at 62 points, followed by Miami (OH) (52), Eastern Michigan (44.5), Akron (34.5), Ohio (20) and UB (10).

Patrice Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) finished second in the seven-event heptathlon with 4,915 points, just seven points behind champion Katie Pickette of Western Michigan. Heading into the final event, the 800-meters, one of Coney's specialties, the sophomore trailed Pickette by 32 points. Coney was tripped at the start of the race, forcing a restart, but severely sprained her ankle. With the sprained ankle, she turned in a 2:26.44 clocking, well below her top time in the event, while Pickette finished in 2:28.43, earning just enough points to outscore Coney in the overall standings.

Vanessa Roelofsen

Running on the sprained ankle and being able to finish served as an inspiration to UB athletes and coaches. "I have never seen someone gut out so much pain," said women's head coach Vicki Mitchell on Friday night.

The loss of Coney will be a blow to UB's efforts on Saturday. She has been scratched from the high jump and her place on the UB relay teams will be filled by other runners.

Vanessa Roelofsen (Alma, Ontario/Norwell District) finished second in the javelin with a toss of 158-8 (48.36m). Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) placed third in the shot put at 50-5.50 (15.38m) and Kelli O'Brien (Clifton Springs, NY/Manchester-Shortsville) took seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:05.51 to round out the scoring for the UB women.

Todd Joki

In the men's meet, Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) finished third in the decathlon with 6,779 total points. Joki won Friday's 110-meter hurdles portion of the competition in 14.59 seconds.

Joki also scored an eighth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 22-8.50 (6.92m) and qualified for Saturday's 110-meter hurdles finals with a time of 14.47 seconds.

Mike Giordano (Springville, NY/Springville) finished seventh overall in the shot put, posting a toss of 54-10.25 (16.72m) and qualifying for the NCAA East Regional meet in two weeks.

Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) finished eighth in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:30.27. McKenna also qualified for Saturday's 1,500-meter final.

Brian Heim

UB also qualified several athletes for finals on Saturday. Brian Heim (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East), last season's 400-meter hurdles champion, broke the Ohio track record with the fastest qualifying mark in the event on Friday. Heim turned in a 53.23 performance, eclipsing the record of 53.27 set by then-Kent State hurdler Ron Andrews in 2001. Andrews, a Western New York native, was an assistant coach at UB the past two seasons before moving back to Kent State at the start of the 2004-05 season.

Other athletes qualifying for finals include Paul Riley (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) in the 800-meters. Riley turned in a season-best 1:52.91 for the third-fastest time of the heats. Jen Jezorski (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside) will race in Saturday's 1,500-meter women's championship after her 4:33.51 clocking was the second-fastest on Friday. Celestine Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) qualified for the 400-meter hurdles final after her 1:01.78 time was eighth-best in the field.

Additionally, freshman Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) earned a Junior National qualfiying standard in the men's 1,500-meters. He clocked a 3:57.80 to finish 11th overall.