MT. PLEASANT, MI - The University at Buffalo men's and women's track and field teams opened the first day of the 2003 Mid-American Conference Championships with some storng performances and are poised for high finishes in the multi-event competitions.

Keith Gentes

In the first day of competition, the UB men rank fifth of 10 teams with eight points after three events. Host Central Michigan leads with 33 points, followed by Eastern Michigan (25) and Ball State (18). Kent State, UB, Akron, Miami, Western Michigan, Marshall and Toledo complete the men's field in that order.

UB's women have four points for an eighth-place standing in the nine-team women's meet with a pair of events scored thus far. Toledo (16), Western Michigan (14), Akron (12), Miami (10) and Kent State (9) are packed near the top of the standings. Bowling Green, Marshall, UB and Ball State complete the women's field.

The Bulls' weight throwers were the lone point scorers in Thursday's competitions. Keith Gentes (Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken) scored a second-place finish in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 190-5 (58.04m). The distance was just shy of his personal-best and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 190-7 (58.10m) set at last month's UB Chancellor's Cup.

Faith Thompson

In the women's hammer throw, Faith Thompson (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) placed fifth at 179-0 (54.57m) to improve on her NCAA regional qualifying mark of 176-0 (53.64m) set two weeks ago at Akron.

UB's multi-event athletes put together impressive performances in the first day of the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon competitions. Men's decathletes Steve Esler (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute) and Carlos Williams (Jamestown, NY/Westfield Academy) hold the top two spots of the 10-event competition as they hit the halfway mark. Esler, the MAC indoor heptathlon champion, has 3,593 points to hold a 36-point lead on Williams at 3,557. Esler won the high jump event at 6-8.75 (2.05m) while Williams won the shot put event at 42-11.75 (13.10m) and tied for first in 100-meter dash event (11.2). Williams also placed second in the long jump event at 21-9 (6.63m), two inches off the winning mark by Toledo's Bryan Fukuzawa, who is third overall more than 200 points behind Esler. Both Esler and Williams are on pace to break the UB school record of 6,662 points set by Matt Streng in 1999.

In the women's heptathlon, Meagan Rogers (Courtenay, BC/George P. Vanier) is fourth after four of the seven events at 3,074 points. Akron's Mary Varga leads the heptathlon at 3,257 points. UB's Katie Love (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) sits in 12th place at 2,599 points. Rogers' best finishes on Thursday were a pair of third places in the 100-meter hurdles (14.60) and shot put (38-6.25, 11.74m) events. Love finished ninth in the high jump event at 5-1 (1.55m).

Other highlights from the first day of the meet included Jerimie Slick (Rochester, NY/Greece-Olympia) breaking his own record in the 10,000 meters. Slick completed the distance in 30:29.19 to place ninth overall and slice six seconds off the mark he set last season. Women's distance runner Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) turned in a personal best with her 38:48.93 clocking in the women's 10,000 meters. The sophomore finished 12th.

Competition contunues through Saturday.