Track & Field Move Up the MAC Rankings at Akron Invite

Friday, February 4

Akron, OH

FRI. 4 p.m. | SAT. 11 a.m.

18th Annual Akron Invitational

Track & Field Move Up the MAC Rankings at Akron Invite

2/6/2022 11:31:00 AM | Track and Field

AKRON, Ohio – The University at Buffalo track and field team competed at the 18^th Annual Akron Invitation over the weekend. The team improved top marks in the conference and in the UB record books.

FRIDAY RECAP
Friday night the featured the men's distance medley relay team's first place finish with Alex Hislop, Fernando Sanchez, Hans Matzal, and Cory Demo. Their winning time of 10:13.23 is ranked first in the MAC. In the men's 5000-meter run, William Marchant (15:17.59), Nicholas Taboni (15:18.10), and Brett Russell (15:29.51) placed second, third, and fourth overall, and each ran a personal best in the race.

SATURDAY RECAP
Saturday started with the blue track events with Lily Meek placing second in the blue division mile in a personal best time of 5:10.70. In the Men's blue division 400-meter dash, Connor Lehr (50.38-seconds) and Fernando Sanchez (50.47-seconds) placed fourth and fifth of the 19-man field, both with personal best times. Freshman Cory Demo won the blue division 800-meter run in 1:58.17 with a commanding 7-second margin of victory.

In the invitational gold events, several Bulls shined. In the 60-meter hurdles finals, Christina Wende placed second overall with a personal best of 8.78-seconds which ranks seventh in the MAC. Wende went on to place second in the long jump later in the day. Zaria Fuller (6^th place, 8.94) and Lydia Lanski (7^th, 9.13) also ran personal best marks in the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Chineme Ononiwu placed second in the men's 60-meter hurdle finals in 8.26-seconds. The Bulls also had finalist in the 60-meter dash with freshman Jermaine Ewers placing fourth in a new personal best time of 6.9-seconds. The time ranks ninth in the MAC. Priscilla Faa finished sixth in the 60-meter dash and third in the 200-meer dash. In the men's 200-meter dash, Elijah Kerner ran a season's best time of 22.72-seconds for third place. In the gold division men's mile, senior Cal Puskar returned after a year off due to injury. Puskar blazed to a new personal best time of 4:11.36, placing second overall. His mark ranks sixth all-time in program history. Close behind was senior Scott Loforte running a personal best of 4:13.69, as Alex Hislop in fifth with a personal best of 4:16.11. Continuing the success on the track, the men's 3,000-meter saw Thomas Flannery race to second all-time for UB as he placed fourth overall in 8:16.43, good for seventh in the MAC. Grad transfer Michael Neeson placed seventh in a big personal best of 8:31.57. In the women's gold division 3,000-meter run, Riley Jones smashed her personal best mark by 15-seconds taking the win in 9:50.35, good for 10^th on the UB all-time top-10 list and moving to 12^th in the MAC indoor list. Grad transfer Anya Schmitt placed second overall in 10:12.14. A very strong day for the Bulls on the track.

In the gold division field events, Brandon Burke continued his winning ways with the victory in the high jump with a clearance of 6-10.75"/2.10-meters. In the men's weight throw, Caleb Nickens set another personal best mark of 64'-02.00"/19.56-meters, placing second overall. He maintains his position at fourth in the MAC and fourth in program history. Jonathan Surdej threw an indoor personal best in the shot put of 56'-02.50"/17.13-meters, which moves him to ninth all time and currently second in the MAC. Surdej placed second in the event behind UB volunteer assistant coach and former MAC shot put champion, Devon Patterson (58'-05.75"/17.82-meters). Molly McCreedy (48'-06.00"/14.78-meters) and Rachel Donner (47'-11.25"/14.61-meters) placed fourth and fifth. Donner's mark is a new personal best and improves her spot in program history by 2-inches. In the women's triple jump, Kaylah Britt jumped to a new season's best of 12.07-meters/39'-07.25" placing second and moving to ninth in the conference. Allison Wojciechowski finished third with a distance of 38'-01.25"/11.61-metersS.

"Each week we see a few more student-athletes up their performance and continue to climb up in the MAC rankings," stated Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "With three weeks until the MAC Championships, we are starting to see some show they are ready to go. Consistency of training without injury, illness, or other setbacks will lead to success. Our keys are keeping everyone healthy and moving forward with their performance. The MAC is an extremely strong conference in track and field and needs to be respected."

For complete results, click here.

UP NEXT
The Bulls return to competition on Friday, Feb. 11 as they travel to Kent, Ohio for the Kent State National Qualifier. The two-day meet will run through Saturday Feb. 12.