Steve Esler

OXFORD, OH - For the second consecutive day, the University at Buffalo scored a Mid-American Conference champion as senior Steve Esler (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) won the men's decathlon title at the league meet in Oxford, OH. Esler won the competition with a two-day total of 6,998 points.

UB's men stand seventh of nine schools with 25 team points. Eastern Michigan leads the men's meet with 49 points. The UB women are sixth in the 13-team competition with 28 points. Ball State tops the women's leaderboard with 48 points.

Esler's victory in the ten-event competition, coupled with last night's women's 10,000-meter title won by Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst), give the Bulls two league champions, equalling the number UB has produced in each of the last two MAC Outdoor Championships. It was also Esler's second MAC multi-event title after winning the heptathlon at the 2003 MAC Indoor Championships and the second consecutive decathlon victory by a UB athlete. Carlos Williams (Jamestown, NY/Westfield Academy) won the competition in 2003.

Esler rallied from fourth place after Thursday's first day of competition to claim the title by winning Friday's two throwing events, the discus and javelin. In his discus victory, Esler threw a season-best 137-2 (41.82m) while also capturing the javelin with a throw of 167-11 (51.19m). Esler's discus toss was more than eight feet better than the second-place competitor. He also finished second in the pole vault portion of the event with a season-best height of 14-5.25 (4.40m).

Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville), the leader after the first day of competition, dropped to fifth overall with a total score of 6,769 points. Joki, who won three events on Thursday, took the decathlon's 110-meter hurdles in 14.65 seconds and also qualified for Saturday's 110-meter hurdles final with a 14.79 clocking.

Reggie Rucker

Sophomore Reggie Rucker (Rochester, NY/Edison Tech) scored a second-place finish in the men's long jump competition. Rucker turned in a leap of 24-0.25 (7.32m), a quarter-inch off his season-best mark and a half-inch off the NCAA Regional qualifying distance. Kent State's Marc Mitchell won the title at 24-7.75 (7.51m).

UB's women's heptathletes finished fourth and sixth in their two-day competition. Meagan Rogers (Courtenay, BC/George P. Vanier) placed fourth with 4,793 points while Patrice Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) was sixth at 4,584 points. Rogers finished third in Friday's javelin event at 108-2 (32.97m) while Coney's top second-day performance was a fifth-place showing in the 800-meters in 2:23.12. UB's third heptathlete, Stephanie Conway (Batavia, NY/Batavia), did not compete in the second day of action.

Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport) walked away with a seventh-place finish in the shot put. Vance, UB's women's recordholder in the event, tossed 47-0.25 (14.33m).

Allison Laske

Friday's competition also included qualifying heats for several of the track events. Allison Laske (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) will be competing in two championship finals on Saturday. Laske placed second overall and won her heat in the 800-meter run in 2:14.13 while also finishing sixth in the preliminaries of the 1,500-meter run in 4:35.93.

On the men's side, freshman Brian Heim (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) qualified fourth in the 400-meter hurdles preliminaries in 53.44 seconds. Bryan Weinstein (Getzville, NY/Williamsville North) turned in a season-best time of 21.53 seconds in the 200-meters to qualify eighth. Freshman Paul Riley (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) also qualified eighth in his event, the 800-meter run in 1:54.20.

UB freshman Stacy Downer (Philadelphia, PA/Dobbins Tech) tied a school record with her finish in the 400-meter preliminaries. Downer clocked 55.84 seconds, tying the mark set in 2000 by Udo Okeke, and earning the freshman the first alternate spot in the finals with her ninth-place finish.

Competition concludes on Saturday.

Women's scores: Ball State 48, Central Michigan 45, Kent State 44, Akron 38.50, Miami (Ohio) 37, UB 28, Bowling Green 22, Western Michigan 15, Eastern Michigan 14.50, Toledo 11, Northern Illinois 7, Marshall 2, Ohio 0.

Men's scores: Eastern Michigan 49, Akron 42, Kent State 38, Miami (Ohio) 36, Western Michigan 28, Central Michigan 28, UB 25, Ball State 23, Ohio 4.