Cross Country Weekly Release
10/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Bulls Send Small Contingent to Cornell Meet
The University at Buffalo cross country teams sent a limited amount of runners to Cornell's John Reif Invite on Friday. There was no team scoring in the meet that also included runners from Cortland and Syracuse.
Swick Paces Men; Cioffi, Swartwood Lone Women's Racers
In the men's 5K race, freshman Bobby Swick was UB's top finisher in 17:05.0 to place third among the 46 runners. Junior Isaac Hagen was eighth in 17:31.1. Freshman Neil Cohen was 14th in 17:59.8 and freshman Geoff Kelly was 19th in 18:10.6. Tyler Murtha, racing unattached, won the competition in 17:01.9. On the women's side, the Bulls sent two runners onto the 5K course. Fifth-year student Amber Cioffi finished 32nd in 22:09.5 with sophomore Hilary Swartwood finishing 33rd in 22:15.0. Unattached runner Angelica Peck won the race in 19:08.5 as 43 runners competed.
Men's Team Moves Up Two Spots
After finishing sixth at the Penn State National Meet, the men's cross country team moved up two spots to number 13 in the latest Northeast Regional rankings released by the USTFCCCA last week. The next regional poll will be released on Monday, October 31 following the MAC Championship meet.
MAC Championship Time Again
The Bulls travel to Muncie, IN this weekend for the Mid-American Conference Championship on October 29. At last season's meet in Kalamazoo, MI, the men's team placed sixth among nine teams with 122 points and the women were 11th in a 12-team field with 276 points, two points behind 10th-place Ball State. Ryan Bloom earned All-MAC honors with a 13th-place finish with John Inzina taking 16th overall. Christine Sprehe finished 45th among 105 runners in the women's 6K race with Sam Beim placing 50th as UB's second finisher.
Mitchell's Musings
As the Bulls prepare for the MAC Championships, head coach Vicki Mitchell commented on her squads. In the men's meet she said, "Our preparation has progressed well, and we are excited to compete with the MAC teams. We know that Eastern Michigan and several other teams will provide excellent competition. Despite having beaten several MAC schools throughout the season, the conference championships always brings out the best in every team and we know there are no 'givens' on championship day." Regarding her women's prospects, Mitchell said, "The women have consistently improved each week this season with their sights on the MAC Championships. We have a tight running pack, and if we execute excellent teamwork throughout the race, we will see some nice improvements over the previous years."
