Cross Country Ready to Run Fast at MAC Championships on Halloween
10/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York men's and women's cross country teams are ready to run fast. They won't be chased by any ghouls or goblins on Saturday, October 31, but are competing at the 2015 Cross Country MAC Championships. This year's race host is Akron and participants will run at the Canton GlenOak Community Park.
Both teams are looking to improve on last year's results. The men earned their second-best program finish of fourth place, while the women ran to a third-straight seventh place finish at the 2014 MAC Championship.
The men's 8 k race will start at 11 am, while the women's 6 k race is scheduled to begin at 12 pm. More information about this weekend's races can be found on the MAC's championship central website.
Each race this season has been a building block to prepare both teams for MAC Championships and the NCAA Northeast regionals. Specifically, their participation at premier races, such as the Lehigh Paul Short Invite and Pre-Nationals hosted by the University of Louisville, gives them valuable experience against regionally ranked teams and some of the best teams around the country. In addition, the teams' experience running at previous MAC Championships bodes well as they prepare for Saturday's edition.
"Last year was my first MAC's, so that exposure to the conference meet was very good," senior Derek Palafox, who finished seventh on the team and 57th place overall at the 2014 MAC Championships, mentioned. "I'm looking to just move up (at the 2015 MAC Championship race) and hope to be our top-five guy and compete for a top-25 spot."
In addition to Palafox, upperclassmen Austin Coneys, Barrett Kemp, and Cameron Bruce bring depth and experience to the men's team. Their leadership has been beneficial to younger runners like freshman Jack Jibb transition seamlessly to UB from high school. On race day Jibb has helped pace the group during different races. At the Paul Short Invite, he led the Bulls to a fourth place team finish. He finished the 8 k race in a time of 24:38.
On the women's side fellow freshman Chardae Henry has quickly found success at UB alongside a relatively young squad. Of 24 runners on the women's team, there are only three seniors. At both the Paul Short Invite and Pre-Nationals, Henry finished first on the team with a time of 21:25. While Henry has impressed as an individual, the team as a whole
The Bulls will look to build upon their second place finish in the unseeded race at Pre-Nationals. In that race, the Bulls beat five conference foes. They beat their closest finishing MAC rival, Central Michigan, by 75 points, 183 to 258.
Despite the women's team not being as experienced running in a MAC Championship as the men's team, head coach Vicki Mitchell has been intentional about who the Bulls have faced against this year. Facing both conference foes and many strong regionally ranked and nationally teams helps lay the ground work for the team to not only improve this season, but also throughout their UB career.
"I look at it that our two biggest events (of the season) are in front of us", head cross country coach Vicki Mitchell explained during Thursday's weekly press conference. "I've been pleased with how the season has progressed so far. Both the men and the women have shown great improvement. I think we are at a different level than we were a year ago at this time. It's been a great seasons so far."
As mentioned above, the men will race at 11 am, while the women will compete at 12pm. The top seven runners in each race earn All-MAC First-Team honors, while eighth through fourteenth place finishers are named to All-MAC Second-Team.
