Track and Field Improve at Premiere Event

Thursday, March 31

Williamsburg, VA

Thursday: 3:30 p.m. | Friday: 9:30 a.m. | Saturday: 10 a.m.

Colonial Relays - William & Mary

Track and Field Improve at Premiere Event

4/3/2022 10:12:00 AM | Track and Field

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo track and field team had a very busy weekend as they participated at the 56^th Colonial Relays hosted by the College of William & Mary and the Geneseo Early Season Invite. The Colonial Relays had over 40 teams competing this year. The men's team finished 17^th out of 40 with 23 points with the women's team finishing in 17^th out of 38 teams with 22.5 points.

FRIDAY RECAP
Brandon Burke continued his winning streak, taking home first in the championship division men's high jump in 7'-00.25" and scoring 10 points for the Bulls. In the women's high jump, Antoinette Miller tied for third with a height of 5'-03.25". For the throws, Asia Hoyte and Imahni Sinclair competed in the women's championships hammer throw. Hoyte set another personal best mark with a distance of 175'-3" to a third place finish. Imahni Sinclair opened her season just shy of her lifetime best placing sixth in 163'-9". Hoyte's mark of 175'-3" moves her to 10^th on the UB all-time top-10 list. Andrew Pietrantoni competed in his first outdoor meet for the Bulls, placing 11^th in the championships hammer throw in a distance of 145'-4". The men's championship division shot put wrapped up the field events for the Bulls on day one of the Colonial Relays. UB's Volunteer Assistant Coach and former MAC Champion, Devon Patterson, won the event with a throw of 60'-01.25", and Jonathan Surdej placed second overall in 55'-11.00".

On the track, Evan Hilbert started the day for the Bulls in the university division 800-meter run, running a personal best 1:55.49 and placing sixth of 53. In the championship 100-meter dash, Antoinette Miller placed eighth overall (12.26-seconds), and Priscilla Faa placed 10^th of the 68 women field in 12.32-seconds. Faa came back with a strong 200-meter dash race in 24.93-seconds, just missing the top-8, placing ninth of 58. Freshman Jermaine Ewers had a very strong race with another sub-11.00 performance placing 14^th of 66 in 10.95. Freshman teammate Tal Hamel ran his debut 400-meter dash for the Bulls, placing 18^th of 54 in 49.68-seconds. Hamel doubled back in the 200-meter dash, running 22.35-seconds and Chineme Ononiwu ran a lifetime best of 22.76-seconds, taking nearly one full second off his previous personal best time. The evening events were focused on the distance races with several personal best marks for the team. In the university division 1500-meter run, graduate transfer Anya Schmitt won her heat and placed 4^th overall of 61 with a personal best time of 4:43.90 – nearly 13 seconds faster than her previous best. For the men, Ryan Buzby raced to another personal best performance placing second of 81 men in the university division 1500-meter run in 3:54.21 and Alex Hislop placed sixth with a 7-second personal best time of 3:56.49. The evening was capped off for the Bulls with the men's championship 10,000-meter run with graduate transfer Michael Neeson running a new personal best mark of 30:08.92, placing seventh. His time ranks him sixth on the UB all-time top-10 performance list.

SATURDAY RECAP
At the Geneseo Early Season Invite, there were light winds for most of the day and sunny skies. The high hurdles started the track events for the Bulls. Both Christina Wende and Zaria Fuller advanced easily to finals, and placed 1-2 overall (14.61 and 14.85, respectively). The success continued for the men in the 110-meter hurdles with Kevin Gabalski and Kyle Wayman both advancing to finals where the placed first and third, and both running new personal best times. In the women's 400-meter hurdles, Payton Rowe and Patsy Iannico and an outstanding start to the season. In their first 400-meter hurdles since last May, Rowe took her first collegiate win with a college best of 1:04.46, as Iannico placed third in a personal best of 1:04.81. Rowe now ranks 10^th in the MAC with Iannico 12^th. Kaylah Britt ran her debut 100-meter dash, placing eighth of 56 in 12.95-seconds. For the men, freshman Jean Desir won the 100-meter dash in a personal best of 11.02-seconds. Justin Kleppel finished seconds in a personal record of 11.10-seconds. Desir doubled back in the men's 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 22.56-seconds placing second. Elijah Kerner was a close third in 22.76-seconds. In the men's 400-meter dash, two freshmen had strong starts to the season with Aaron Essien placing eighth in 51.09-seconds, and Emmanuel Sanchez running a personal best of 51.82-seconds. In the men's 800-meter run, Patrick Hazlitt and Chris Nowak placed second and third in their season opener, while junior Aubrey Cluck made her debut, placing eighth of 71 in 2:23.97. The last event on the track for the Bulls was the men's 5000-meter run where the sun was setting, temperatures started to drop, and the winds picked up. That did not matter for redshirt freshman Brett Russell, who ran a personal best time of 15:17.81, placing sixth of 41 competitors.

In the field events, the Bulls continued to find success. Fuller won the women's high jump. Freshman Calvin Finger placed third for the men and Aiden Zerkowski placed fifth. In the horizontal jumps, the Bulls worked with a short approach take-off. Kaylah Britt won the women's long jump from a 5-step approach in 17'-10.75", and teammate Samantha Spinella was right behind for a second place finish. Christina Wende placed second in the triple jump, Emily Tait and Nisa Raqib placed fourth and fifth. The men also worked from a short 5-step approach. Justin Kleppel jumped a personal best of 21'-04.00" and Calvin Finger also had a college best 21'-02.75", placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Violet Drinkwater placed fourth in the pole vault. In the throwing events, Quinn Smith improved both his shot put and discus marks from his opening meet at Raleigh Relays. Smith took third in the shot put in 48'-06.75" and second in the discus throw in 158'-9". Sophomore transfer Kiara McDowell placed third in the women's shot put and sixth in the discus throw with a distance of 115'-7", just a few inches off her personal best. In the javelin throw, Ryan Fong made his debut for the Bulls, placing third in a very strong series of throws. His mark of 176'-10" ranks him sixth in the MAC.

The Geneseo Early Season invite was the first outdoor competition for many of the Bulls. The weather cooperated and allowed us to get out, compete and evaluate where we stand. It was exciting to see many of our new freshman in action for their competition of the season. We have a solid starting point for the season, and have high expectations for improvement.

Day two of the Colonial Relays had a small group for the Bulls competing. Danil Chernov placed 10^th in the championship javelin throwing 173'-2, his second best throw in his life. He ranks eighth in the MAC. In the women's championship shot put, Molly McCreedy (47'-08.50") and Rachel Donner (46'-03.75") placed fourth and sixth overall scoring. McCreedy and Donner came back to compete in the championships Division of the discus throw, placing 10^th and 11^th overall. On the track, Lydia Lanski had a strong start to her outdoor season in the championship 100-meter hurdles running in 14.89-seconds, just .01-seconds off her personal best mark and placing 14^th overall. The day wrapped up with the men's championships 800-meter run. Cal Puskar ran a lifetime best of 1:53.27 placing 14^th overall, ranking him seventh in the MAC. Teammate Johann Matzal ran a college outdoor best of 1:53.63 placing 16^th in the championship section and ranking eighth in the MAC.

"The Geneseo Early Season Invite was the first outdoor competition for many of the Bulls, stated Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "The weather cooperated and allowed us to get out, compete and evaluate where we stand. It was exciting to see many of our new freshman in action for their competition of the season. We have a solid starting point for the season, and have high expectations for improvement. The Colonial Relays meet provided high level competition from many of the schools in the East Region. This was a very good early season meet for our team to see the competition we'll meet at the NCAA East Preliminary in late May. We had several with personal best marks, but also know there's a lot of work to do in the next five weeks leading up to the MAC Championships."

RESULTS

UP NEXT

The Bulls will host the UB Spring Opener on Saturday, April 9. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m. at UB Stadium.