Men’s and Women’s Teams Finish Top-Three at Cornell Upstate Challenge

Saturday, January 21

Ithaca, NY

TBA

Upstate Challenge

Men’s and Women’s Teams Finish Top-Three at Cornell Upstate Challenge

1/22/2023 11:12:00 AM | Track and Field

ITHACA, N.Y. - The University at Buffalo track and field team competed at the Cornell Upstate Challenge on Saturday afternoon. The men's team placed 3^rd of five teams with 63 points, behind Cornell (190) and Binghamton (86). The women's team also placed 3^rd with a total of 86 points, behind Cornell (211) and Binghamton (95).

ON THE MEN'S SIDE
The men started the day in the Shot Put with 2^nd and 4^th place finishes by Jonathan Surdej (55'11.25") and Mark Przybocki (54'8.25"). Freshman Dan Muccini advanced to finals in the Long Jump and placed 3^rd in a personal best mark of 22'1.5", and teammate Kevin Gabalski placed 5^th (21'5.5"). Also scoring for the Bulls was sophomore Calvin Finger, who placed 2^nd in the High Jump with a jump of 6'2.75".

On the track, Justin Kleppel set a personal best in the prelim of the 60m of 7.07 and advanced to the finals, where he won the finals in 6.92. Sophomore Fernando Sanchez ran a season's best in the 400m of 51.31, placing 4^th. With the flat 200m track indexing, Sanchez's converted time of 50.51 ranks #11 in the MAC. Freshman Julian Smith ran a season's best 51.49 placing 6^th for the Bulls. Brett Russell won the men's 3000m, just missing his personal best with a time of 8:56.73. Russell's flat 200m converted time of 8:50.56 ranks #13 in the MAC.

ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE
The women also had a strong field event showing. Christina Wende continued her dominating season, winning the triple jump by over 4 feet, setting a new personal best and tying the #3 UB All-Time Best with a distance of 41'4.50". Her jump also moved her to #1 in the MAC rankings and #35 in the NCAA. In the #20 WT, the Bulls took second and third place with graduate transfer Teasha McKoy throwing 55'4.25" and junior Imahni Sinclair tossing a distance of 54'1". McKoy also placed second in the Shot Put (47'10.00").

Junior combined event specialist Scilla Benussi placed 3^rd in in the Long Jump with a personal best mark of 18'5.75" moving her to #8 in the MAC this season. Benussi also took placed 5^th in the Shot Put (37'3.73"). Sophomore Zahra Amos placed 3^rd in the High Jump as well. On the track, Lydia Lanski ran a season's best in the prelim round of the 60HH of 9.08 and came back to place 7^th overall in the finals (9.11). Freshman Vassi Klock placed 2^nd in the 800m in 2:17.01. The flat track indexing conversion of 2:15.45 ranks #7 in the MAC. First year junior Safiya Dodoo ran a personal best in the 400m placing 5^th.

"The Cornell Upstate Challenge provided a good competitive environment for many of our younger athletes to gain experience, and for our veteran athletes to work on fine-tuning technique and skills as we prepare for the MAC Championships," stated Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "We have a lot of room for improvement, but each week we continue to see more make great strides forward."

For complete results, click here.

UP NEXT
The Bulls are back in action on Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28 as the team travels to Penn State University for the Penn State National Open.