Bulls Have a Successful Showing at the Bucknell Bison Classic

Thursday, April 14

Lewisburg, PA

All Day

Bucknell Bison Invite

Bulls Have a Successful Showing at the Bucknell Bison Classic

4/17/2022 11:19:00 AM | Track and Field

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The University at Buffalo track and field team traveled down to Lewisburg, Pa. for the Bucknell Bison Classic. Over the course of the three-day meet, many bulls set personal best marks with some joining the UB record books.

THURSDAY RECAP
In the men's decathlon, Michael Wolford took third place with a total score of 6,401 points. Kevin Gabalski placed fifth with a total of 5,816 points out of 16 competitors. Wolford had several personal best marks including the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, and 1,500-meter run helping improve his personal best total score by over 800 points from last year. Gabalski also had personal best marks in several events including the 400-meter dash, javelin and discus throw.

In the women's heptathlon, Zaria Fuller won the women's heptathlon with a score of 4,939 points, placing her fifth in program history list in her debut in the event. She won 6-of-the-7 events and scored personal best marks in several. She placed won the 100-meter hurdles 14.69-seconds, as well as the high jump in a new personal best mark of 5'-09.75", now third in program history. In her third event, the shot put, she set another personal best and first place finish with a mark of 38'-11.75". She closed out the first day of the heptathlon winning the 200-meter dash in a personal best of 25.44-seconds. Day two started off strong with at first place finish in the long jump of 17'-09.50". In the javelin, an event she is just learning, she placed 10^th of 17 in 84'-00", and she closed out the heptathlon with the 800-meter run with a time of 2:41.36.

FRIDAY RECAP
On the first day of open event competition, the Bulls had a very strong showing. Senior Lily Meek ran a college best of 4:52.31 in the unseeded 1,500-meter run, winning her heat. In the Invitational 1,500-meter run, Riley Jones ran a personal best of 4:36.57. In the men's unseeded 1,500-meter run races, freshman Cory Demo ran a personal best of 3:57.25 winning his heat. Johann Matzal ran a very strong debut 1,500-meter run, running 3:57.75. In the men's invitational 1,500-meter run races, more personal bests came for Cal Puskar running 3:51.80 and Evan Hilbert improving his mark by 4-seconds in 3:48.12, placing him third in program history. In the invitational 5,000-meter races, Anya Schmitt set a personal best of 17:16.53, placing 19^th of 59 competitors. For the men, Michael Neeson continued his great season with 16-second personal best mark running 14:32.07, good for ninth in UB history and teammate Alex Hislop took 13-seconds of his previous best running 14:42.32. In the men's 10,000-meter run, Ryan Buzby ran his debut in 31:05.92.
Highlighting the field events was Danil Chernov in the javelin throw. His toss of 60.81-meters/199'-6" placed seventh overall and moves him to fourth all-time. For the women, Christina Wende took home first place in the long jump with a distance of 18'-11.75". Samantha Spinella placed eighth with a season's best of 18'-03.00". Freshman Calvin Finger had a collegiate best in the men's long jump of 22'-04.50", currently 12^th in the MAC.

SATURDAY RECAP
On Saturday, the team saw more success both on the track and in the field events. The Women's 4 x 100m relay started the day with a victory. The quartet of Travasia Singletary, Antoinette Miller, Greta Rastelli, and Priscilla Faa took the win in a season's best time of 46.80-seconds, fourth in the MAC. The men's 4 x 100-meter relay, Jean Desir, Dante Haynes, Tal Hamel, and Jermaine Ewers, placed fourth in a season's best 41.44-seconds, good for third in the MAC. The sprinters continued to have a great day, despite the temperatures dropping and rain moving in. Miller and Faa placed second and third of the 81 competitors in the women's 100-meter dash. Faa returned in the 200-meter dash for a fifth place finish in 25.14-seconds. Ewers (10.87-seconds) placed 14^th out of 83, as Desir (10.93-seconds) and Justin Kleppel (10.99-seconds) both broke the 11.00-second barrier for the first time. Emma Seiders had a season's best in the 400-meter dash (58.95-seconds) and a personal best in the 200-meter dash (25.79-seconds). Hamel ran a season's best 49.55-seconds in the 400-meter dash placing 15^th of 86 competitors, and returned in the 200-meter dash for a season's best 22.19-seconds placing 11^th of 68. Elijah Kerner (19^th, 22.43-seconds) and Chineme Ononiwu (30^th, 22.62-seconds) also had season's best marks. Payton Rowe took the win in her heat of the 400-meter hurdles just off her personal best in a time of 1:04.68. The middle distance runners saw success in the 800-meter run races. Riley Jones came back from her 1,500-meter run personal best the night before to run a 6-second personal best of 2:17.31, while Aubrey Cluck led 700-meters in a windy 800-meter run, narrowly out-leaned at the finish placing second in her heat (2:24.05). The men's 800-meter run was also very successful. Cal Puskar returned from his personal record 1,500-meter run race the night before to win his heat of the 800-meter run (1:53.29), while Chris Nowak (1:54.91) and Pat Halzitt (1:54.94) ran season's bests in the event.
The rain and dropping temps the field events challenging, but the Bulls managed well. Kaylah Britt jumped to a season's best winning the triple jump in 39'-10.50", ranking third in the MAC. Nisa Raqib also had a season's best of 37'-01.00", moving her to 18^th in the MAC. Jonathan Surdej placed sixth overall in a very competitive shot put field, which included volunteer assistant Coach Devon Patterson taking the event win with a throw of 59'-10.25". Molly McCreedy had another personal best in the shot put throwing 51'-04.50", placing second overall and placing her up to fifth on the UB all-time top-10 list and moves her to third in the MAC. Teammate Rachel Donner placed fifth in the 45 women field. Caleb Nickens placed third in the hammer throw (192'-1"). Rounding out the throwing events for the Bulls, Asia Hoyte and Imahni Sinclair both made finals and had new personal best throws. Hoyte's seventh place (of 45) throw of 177'-3" improved her previous best by over 2-feet, moving her to ninth in program history and fourth in the MAC. Sinclair's best throw of 173'-0" improved her previous best by 9-feet, and moves her to 10^th in the MAC.

"It was great to be back at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19," stated Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "The highly competitive and deep fields was exactly what we needed for our team. Many of our student-athletes earning personal best marks and/or event wins. Learning how to compete and win is the goal, under all weather conditions. Our team adapted well to the changing conditions all day Saturday. While more work is needed over the next three weeks before the MAC Championships, we had many improvements that demonstrate we are heading in the right direction."

For complete results, click here.

UP NEXT
The Bulls will host the UB Team Invite on Saturday, April 23. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m. at UB Stadium.