Bulls Take Home Third at Akron Quad Meet

Friday, January 14

Akron, OH

6 p.m.

University at Buffalo

University of Akron Quad Meet

Bulls Take Home Third at Akron Quad Meet

1/15/2022 11:18:00 AM | Track and Field

AKRON, Ohio – The University at Buffalo track and field team competed at the Akron Quad Meet on Friday evening where both the men's and women's teams took home third place. The was the team's first action since Friday, Dec. 3.

ON THE MEN'S SIDE
On the track, the performance of the meet for the Bulls was by Tommy Flannery in the milerun, who ran a big personal best time of 4:08.85 placing third overall. Flannery's time was nearly 7-seconds faster than his previous best and places him second on the UB all-time top-10 list. He is ranked third in the MAC behind Eastern Michigan's (EMU) Baldvin Magnusson, the Icelandic National 5,000-meter record holder, and EMU's Toby Gualter. Sophomore transfer Johann Matzal making his debut for the Bulls ran his first 800-meter race in two years running a collegiate personal best and placing third in 1:53:63. Rounding out a strong night for the distance men, Scott Loforte placed third in the men's 3,000-meter with a season opener of 8:27.70, and Alex Hislop ran big 41-second personal best of 8:33.92, placing seventh for the Bulls. In the 60-meter hurdles, Humphrey Banful (8.24-seconds) and Chineme Ononiwu (8.30-seconds) ran strong races placing fourth and fifth for the Bulls. In the 60-meter dash freshman Jermaine Ewers placed fourth in 7.02-seconds.

In the field events, the great rivalry in the men's high jump between NCAA All-Americans Brandon Burke and Akron's Nuh Andu continues for the 2022 season. Andu edged out Burke on clean attempts in their first matchup of the season, both clearing 6'-10.75" (2.10m). Freshman Calvin Finger jumped a collegiate best of 6'-04.75" (1.95m) to place fourth overall. Sophomore Dustin Meyer cleared a new personal best (15'-05.75"/4.72m) to place second in the pole vault behind Akron's Hunter Garretson (15'-11.75"). Dustin's mark moves him to 10^th on the UB all-time top-10 list. The throws group had a strong evening, with Junior Jonathan Surdej placing second in the shot put (54'-02.75"/16.53m) with teammate Mark Przybocki placing third in a personal best mark of 52'-1.75"/15.89m. The MAC features one of the strongest weight throw fields in the entire NCAA. UB's Caleb Nickens placed third (61'-7"/18.77m) behind EMU's Bryant Taige (Ranked first in the NCAA) and Newlyn Stephenson (Ranked third in NCAA).

ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE
On the track, Christina Wende set the standard as she blazed to a new personal best in the 60-meter hurdles placing second in 8.80-seconds. Scoring for the Bulls in the 60-meter dash were Travasia Singletary (eighth, 7.91) and Antoinette Miller (ninth, 7.94). Priscilla Faa placed fourth in the 200-meter dash (25.48) and Singletary placed eighth (25.87). Emma Seiders ran a season's best placing fifth in the 400-meter dash (59.96). In the mile run, Lily Meek ran a season's best of 5:18.64 placing fifth. The 3,000-meter run was a very competitive and exciting race, with graduate transfer Anya Schmitt running a 40-second personal best placing fifth in 10:09.29 and Riley Jones with a strong season opener of 10:13.63.

Making her debut for the Bulls was sophomore Transfer student Zaria Fuller who set a new personal best in the high jump of 5'-06.50" (1.69m) placing second. Her marks ties her for seventh on the UB all-time list. Teammate Zahra Amos placed third (5'-03.00/1.60m) in the event. Wende continued her evening of personal bests leaping to 18'10.75"/5.76m to a third place finish in the long jump – moving her to sixth on the UB all-time long jump list. Kaylah Britt placed second in the triple jump (38'6.25"/11.74m), and Emily Tait placed fourth (37'5"/11.40m). In the throws, several women set new personal bests. Leading the way was team captain Molly McCreedy taking first in the shot put with a personal best mark of 50'-01.25"/15.27m, while Rachel Donner placed third for the Bulls (44'-01.50"/13.45m). In the weight throw, the UB women placed 4^th-5^th-6^th with Imahni Sinclair, Lizzy Manderson (personal best mark of 51'3.75"/15.64m) and Claire Koepnick (personal best mark by nearly 1 full meter of 49'11/15m21m).

"It is always difficult to have a 4-week break in practice with the team, with many of our student-athletes not having facilities to train in during the semester break," state Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "Technical work is difficult during the break, and definitely hinders progress during a critical period of the season. However, this provided a solid starting point for the 2022 year and our expectations remain very high. Motivation is high, and with the majority of the team back to campus this coming week, we have to maximize our training and competition opportunities to get prepared for the MAC Championships."

For complete results, click here.

MEN'S RESULTS

Eastern Michigan – 163
Akron – 123
BUFFALO – 113
Youngstown State – 52

WOMEN'S RESULTS

Eastern Michigan – 165
Akron – 156
BUFFALO – 118
Youngstown State – 37

NEXT UP
The Bulls are back in action with a double header weekend on Jan. 21 and 22. The team will travel to Youngstown State on Friday, Jan. 21 for the Youngstown State Collegiate Invite and to the Penn State National on Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22.