Patrice Coney Repeats as MAC Heptathlon Champion

Patrice Coney

BOWLING GREEN, OH – The University at Buffalo's Patrice Coney (Lyons, NY/Lyons) won her second consecutive women's heptathlon title as competition continued at the 2008 Mid-American Conference Men's and Women's Track and Field Championships on Friday.

Coney accumulated 4,990 points in the seven-event competition, picking up a pair of sixth-place finishes (long jump and javelin) and seventh-place finish (800-meters) to hold off a hard-charging Jen Osborn of Akron by 158 points. Osborn rallied from sixth place after the first day. The win for Coney was her second consecutive MAC outdoor heptathlon title and third of her career. The senior also won the 2006 MAC indoor penathlon title. Along with her win in the heptathlon, Coney also qualified for a pair of hurdles finals on Saturday, setting a season-best in the 400-meter hurdles of 1:01.59. She will also race in the 100-meter hurdles final.

Fatimah Hill

The UB women also picked up a fourth-place finish from Fatimah Hill (Waterport, NY/Lyndonville) in the long jump and a sixth-place effort from Nicole Soblosky (Colonie, NY/Colonie) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Hill turned in a distance of 18-7.75 (5.68m) in the women's long jump. Soblosky set a season-best with her time of 11:12.30 in the steeplechase, cutting nearly 15 seconds off her previous best.

Alex Stamatakis

UB's men scored in the field as P.J. Godios (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) finished fourth in the javelin with a throw of 192-10 (58.79m). Alex Stamatakis (Hania, Crete, Greece/First Technical & Vocational School of Crete) earned an NCAA East Regional qualifying mark with his fifth-place showing in the shot put. Stamatakis posted a season-best with his trhow of 55-2 (16.81m), bettering the qualifying distance by one centimeter.

The Bulls also got eighth-place scoring finishes from Loic Sebuharara (Vestal, NY/Vestal) in the men's long jump (21-10, 6.65m) and Ryan Bloom (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase (season-best 9:30.65). Freshman Adam Bolles (Darien Center, NY/Alexander Central) just missed the scoring column, finishing ninth in the decathlon with 5,436 points. Bolles' top finish was a second-place in the long jump at 20-11.75 (6.39m) in the 10-event competition.

Ezekiel Porter

UB's men also qualified several individuals for Saturday's track finals. Ezekiel Porter (Rochester, NY/East) had the fastest qualifying time in the 400-meters in 47.66, a season-best. He also qualified for the 200-meter finals. Sprinters Dan Schichtel (Eden, NY/Eden), Brian Smith (North Tonawanda, NY/Nichols) and Josh Thomas (Cedar Hill, TX/Cedar Hill) also qualified for Saturday's finals. Schichtel will compete in the 100-meters, Smith in the 200-meters and Thomas in the 400-meters.

John Bauman (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville North) qualified for the men's 800-meter finals after posting a season-best 1:53.06 in the heats while Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) qualified for the 1,500-meter finals in 4:04.94. Freshmen hurdlers Jamal Norward (Buffalo, NY/Hamburg) and Austin Archibald (Ridge, NY/Longwood) will compete in Saturday's 110-meter hurdles finals.

Competition concludes on Saturday.

Women's scores (through eight events): Akron 96, UB 39, Ohio 34, Kent State 30, Central Michigan 26, Western Michigan 25, Bowling Green 22, Ball State 16, Eastern Michigan 15, Miami (OH) 6, Toledo 3, Northern Illinois 0.

Men's scores (through eight events): Akron 74, Miami (OH) 68, Eastern Michigan 62, Kent State 58, Central Michigan 31, UB 19.