TRACK & FIELD

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Vanessa Roelofsen

BUFFALO, NY - Three University at Buffalo track and field athletes have had successful summers representing their countries at prestigious national and international competitions. Vanessa Roelofsen (Alma, Ontario/Norwell District SS) recently earned a bronze medal at the Canadian National Championships, Todd Joki (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) won three medals at the Maccabiah Games and Dan Giza (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) competed at the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships in June.

Roelofsen earned a bronze medal in the javelin at the Canadian Track and Field Senior Nationals, held in Winnipeg, with a solid throw of 44.17m (144-9). With her third-place finish, she now has a chance to qualify for the Goodwill Games next summer. Roelofsen is coming off a strong freshman campaign at UB during which she earned Top Newcomer honors during the outdoor season. She set a school record in the javelin in her first collegiate meet (161-9/49.30m) and went on to finish second (158-8/48.36m) at the Mid-American Conference Championships and 14th (145-4/44.29m) at the NCAA Regional meet.

Todd Joki

Joki, who will be entering his senior season at UB in 2005-06, won three silver medals while representing the United States at the 17th Maccabiah Games, held in Israel. The Maccabiah Games are held once every four years and attract over 6,000 of the best Jewish athletes from over 50 countries around the world. Joki placed second in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.45 seconds, just .12 seconds behind the first-place finisher. He also placed second in the long jump with a lifetime best of 23-11 (7.29m) and in the 4x100-meter relay. Joki was the men's track and field Coaches' Award recipient for both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2004-05. He set a school record during the outdoor season in the 110-meter hurdles (14.31) to qualify for the NCAA East Regionals, where he finished 25th.

Dan Giza

Giza competed at the USATF Junior Nationals on June 24 in Carson, CA. He placed 14th overall in the 1,500-meter run with a clocking of 4:02.71, just barely missing the finals as the top 12 times advanced. Giza lined up against some of the best runners in the country at the meet, including Galen Rupp, a freshman at Oregon who holds the American junior records in the 300-meter, 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs. Like Roelofsen, Giza is also coming off a successful freshman season at UB. He qualified for the Junior Nationals with a time of 3:57.80 at the MAC Championship meet in May. The time was a personal best for Giza and the second-best 1,500-meter time on the team during the outdoor season. The Bulls sent four athletes to the USATF Junior Nationals last summer who all came back to have strong sophomore seasons, and the coaching staff is hoping Giza follows suit in 2005-06.

The Bulls also have numerous athletes who will be competing at the Empire State Games later this month.