Paul Riley

ATHENS, OH - The Mid-American Conference Track and Field Championships came to a close Saturday with the Kent State women and Central Michigan men earning the team titles. Rain and lightning delayed action at Ohio University's Goldsberry Track midway through Saturday's event, forcing the competition to end later than expected.

The UB women finished seventh with 59 points. Kent State won the title with 129 points, followed by Akron at 122 and Eastern Michigan with 118 points. Western Michigan (98), Central Michigan (85), Ball State (64), UB (59), Miami (OH) (53), Northern Illinois (33), Bowling Green (32), Ohio (16), Marshall (5) and Toledo (5) made up the remainder of the women's field.

In the men's meet, UB placed seventh with 48 points. Central Michigan easily won with 220 points to second-place Kent State's 183. Eastern Michigan (118), Miami (OH) (110.5), Akron (79.5), Ohio (54) and UB (48) rounded out the field.

Brian Heim

Sophomores Paul Riley (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) and Brian Heim (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) earned second-place finishes to lead the UB men on Saturday.

Riley turned in a personal-best 1:51.11 in the men's 800-meter final after finishing third in the heats on Friday in 1:52.91. Heim, who set the Goldsberry Track record in Friday's qualifying of the men's 400-meter hurdles, finished second to Central Michigan's Nick Stout in the finals. Heim finished in 52.26 to Stout's 51.85. The clocking by Heim earned the sophomore a trip to the NCAA East Regional Championships at Manhattan College in two weeks.

Dan McKenna (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) scored a fourth-place finish in the men's 1,500-meter run. McKenna finished in a season-best 3:53.08.

Men's jumpers Rayshon Higgins (Buffalo, NY/Timon/St. Jude) and Gary Asbach (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) turned in season-best marks in the triple jump. Higgins, who had missed much of the regular season, finished fourth with a leap of 46-9 (14.25m) while Asbach was fifth at 46-2.75 (14.09m).

Andy Wigton (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) earned an eighth-place finish in the men's 5,000-meters in 14:49.37. Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) posted an eighth-place finish in the men's 110-meter hurdles in 14.63 seconds. Joki also ran on both of UB's sixth-place relay squads. The 4x100-meter relay team turned in a 42.56 finish. Ryan Brennan (Rochester, NY/Aquinas) ran the opening leg, followed by Joki, Heim and Asbach. In the 4x400-meter relay, which clocked a 3:20.96 finish, the lineup included Chris McClure (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg), Heim, Joki and Riley.

Jessica Lister

For the UB women, pole vaulter Jessica Lister (Rodman, NY/South Jefferson) tied a season-best with her fifth-place finish in the event. Lister cleared 11-11.75 (3.65m), the highest for a UB woman this season, tying her previous best at last weekend's Campbell/Wright Open.

On the track Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) scored a fifth-place finish in the women's 5,000-meters 17:15.55. Celestine Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) finished sixth in the women's 400-meter hurdles in 1:01.57.

The UB women posted a seventh-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:52.32. The UB entry consisted of Stacy Downer (Philadelphia, PA/Dobbins Tech), Jen Jezorski (Elmira, NY/Elmira Southside), Kate Kohout (Clarence, NY/Clarence) and Coney.

Sarah Vance (Lockport, NY/Lockport) scored for the UB women with an eighth-place finish in the discus at 143-0 (43.60m).

Following the meet, the league announced the All-MAC teams. For the UB women, Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) earned All-MAC First Team honors while Vanessa Roelofsen (Alma, Ontario/Norwell District SS) and Patrice Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) were named to the second team. Riley and Heim were selected to the men's All-MAC Second Team.

UB athletes will next compete at the NCAA East Regional Championships on Memorial Day weekend.