Cross Country Weekly Release
10/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Men Sixth; Women 19th at Penn State Meet
The University at Buffalo men's and women's cross country teams competed Friday at the Penn State National Cross Country Meet against some of the country's top squads. The UB men placed sixth in a field of 21 while the women's team finished 19th among 29 squads. Both races were contested in driving rain with very muddy conditions.
Conway Conquers the Course
In the men's 5.2 mile race, the Bulls were led by senior Dylan Conway. Conway finished 16th overall among 189 entrants in 27:01. It was his second consecutive top individual finish after his 96th-place showing at Lehigh's Paul Short Invitational. For his performance at Lehigh, Conway was named the Mid-American Conference's Scholar Athlete of the Week.
Sanders Heads Women's Contigent
For the UB women, junior Katie Sanders was the top finisher in the 6K race. Sanders turned in a time of 23:26 to place 85th among the 268 total runners. This was Sanders' second top finish for the Bulls. She also was UB's first female finisher at the UB Stampede Invitational on September 16 when she turned in a 5K time of 18:57 to win the race. Sanders turned in a 23:11 clocking for her top 6K time of the season when she was UB's second finisher and 44th overall at the Paul Short Invitational.
Beating the MAC
In the men's meet, the Bulls scored 178 points, one point behind fifth-place Montana State (177). UB, ranked 15th in the latest Northeast Regional rankings, finished ahead of MAC rivals Miami (Ohio) and Akron, who placed ninth and 10th, respectively. Penn State won the team title with 47 points. West Virginia won the women's team title with 45 points as UB scored 530 points for its 19th-place finish. The UB women finished two places ahead of 21st-place Akron (567) in the 29-team field. Miami (Ohio) placed sixth with 211 points.
Mitchell's Musings
Following the meet head coach Vicki Mitchell commented her team's performances. "The men got a much better start to the race and kept moving strong throughout the 5.2 mile course," said Mitchell. "Led again by Dylan Conway, the men closed with a small spread and accomplished beating MAC rivals Akron and Miami of Ohio along with Northeast competitor Marist. While we are not resting on our laurels from today, their performance today was what we wanted as we prepare for the MAC Championships and NCAA Northeast Championships. Our key is to stay healthy and focused.
"The women ran a much improved race over two weeks ago and demonstrated that they are on track to having a strong performance at MACs," said Mitchell. "Beating Akron for the first time in several years was a nice accomplishment but the women know that they must continue to work hard in order to repeat that in two weeks."
