Bulls Rewrite Program and Personal Records at SPIRE Mid-West Invite

Saturday, January 20

Geneva OH

9am

SPIRE Mid-West Invite

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UBBulls.com

Bulls Rewrite Program and Personal Records at SPIRE Mid-West Invite

1/21/2024 1:53:00 PM | Track and Field

GENEVA, OHIO – The University at Buffalo track and field team competed in the SPIRE Mid-West games on Saturday, with a team performance that rewrote the program record books and dominated event leaderboards. The Bulls had a new indoor program record set by Tal Hamel in the 300m (33.99), five runners finish their event with a top-ten time in program history, ten first-place finishes and 24 athletes with podium finishes.

"Our team was excited to compete after seven weeks off," said Head Coach Vicki Mitchell. "For many it was the first competition of the indoor season. We set a baseline for the season with several individuals setting lifetime best marks and school all-time top-ten performances."

SPRINTS
The sprints were highlighted by Hamel, who set the new program record in the 300m with a time of 33.99. The previous record set by Brian Smith (35.89) had stood for over a decade, with Hamel beating Smith's time by nearly two seconds. Julian Smith also had a sixth-place finish in the 300m (35.89), with his time ranking sixth in Bulls' indoor history.

Buffalo had two of the top three runners in the 60 meter hurdles, with Michael Parks placing second (8.29) and Kevin Gabalski finishing third with a new personal best of 8.31.

In the 60 meter dash the Bulls had freshman Sam Mellinger place fourth (7.00), tying his personal best, and Justin Kleppel place tenth (7.04), setting a new personal record.

Brandon Robinson ran a personal best too in the 200m (22.46), placing 11^th in a field of 72 runners.

On the women's side of the 60 meter, freshman Amber McDonald set a new personal record with a time of 7.96, good for a fourth place finish. Uma Battacharjee also ran a personal best in the 200m, placing third with a time of 25.91. Scilla Benussi placed second in the 60 meter hurdles, setting a new personal record with a time of 8.95, and freshman Gemma Galligani placed fourth with a personal best of her own (9.36).

The Bulls continued to shine into the team sprinting events, with the 4x400 meter relay Women's "A" team of Stephney Pryce, Juliette Salazar, Johanna Kleiner, and Bhattacharjee taking first place and the "B" squad of Singh, Klock, Newton, and Wilber taking second place.

DISTANCE
The Bulls continued rewriting the program and their personal record books in the distance events, starting with Fernando Sanchez in the 600 meter. Sanchez completed the 600m event in 1:20.65, placing second in the event, setting a new personal best time, ranking fifth all-time in Buffalo indoor history. Andrew Core was also strong in the 600 meter, placing ninth with a new personal record of 1:24.11.

Competing in their first 800 meter of the year, the Buffalo women took four of the top seven spots in a field of 46 runners. Allison Newton beat her previous personal best by over two seconds running 2:15.71. Salazar made her debut placing third in 2:17.78, with Kleiner just behind in a new personal record of 2:18.13. Freshman Julia Singh also ran a personal best of 2:19.44.

The women continued to shine in the mile run, with Vassi Klock opening her indoor season with a third-place finish (5:06.56), and freshman Reese Wilber ran a personal best placing sixth in 5:15.70. Also running personal best marks in the mile were Bronagh Cassidy (5:18.87) and Elizabeth Powers (5:31.45).

The Buffalo women were not done yet in the distance events, with all four runners setting personal best marks in the 3000 meter. Lacey Danilovitz led the Bulls with a fifth-place finish and a time of 10:20.43. Alexandra Cowley (15^th, 10:49.70), Chloe Freeland (16^th, 10:54.44), and freshman Megan Smith (25^th, 11:14.28) all ran personal best marks.

The Buffalo men were equally as impressive, starting with Luke Stoeffler who ran a personal best time of 8:23.79 in his first-place finish in the men's 3000 meter. Stoeffler's time now ranks ninth all time in indoor program history. Alex Hislop placed second in the event just behind Stoeffler, with a time of 8:25.15, Hislop's second best collegiate time. Freshman Chris Turner also opened the day with a personal best in the event (8:47.67).

Noah Brightman (5^th, 1:55.66) and Danzil Monk (7^th, 1:56.61) shined in the men's 800 meter, with both placing inside the top ten in an event of 43 runners, as Johann Matzal ran a new personal best in the mile (4:14.68) with a second-place finish.

DISTANCE
Zahra Amos took first place in the women's high jump with a new personal best of 1.73m, tying the fourth best performance in Buffalo indoor history. Freshman Adrianna Ellsworth also set a collegiate best of 1.55m.

In the long jump, Scilla Benussi took first place with (5.42m), as freshman Kara Moran took second (5.37m), with the Bulls having the top two finishers in an event of 31 participants. Emily Tait (2^nd, 11.19m) and Moran (3^rd, 11.05M) both had podium finishes in the triple jump.

On the men's side, freshman Manuel Sepulveda won the men's long jump (6.73m), as teammates Daniel Muccini (2^nd, 6.69m) and Kleppel (3^rd, 6.63m) also had podium finishes. Sepulveda had another first-place finish at the invitational, winning the triple jump (14.15m)

Calvin Finger had his best performance this season placing fourth in the high jump with 1.95m, and Tyler Norton was not far behind with a sixth-place finish (1.90m). Brian Murphy also placed fourth in the pole vault with a season's best of 4.50m.

THROWS
The Bulls continued their strong team performance in throwing events, with defending Mid-American Conference Champion Jonathan Surdej winning the men's shot put with a throw of 16.84m. Freshman Bradley Johnson threw a personal best with a throw of 15.32m, taking second place.

Caleb Nickens won the weight throw with a new season best of 19.32m, as Kenneth Gulloso took fourth place with a personal best of 15.20m.

On the women's side, Imahni Sinclair threw a season's best mark of 16.80m to win the women's weight throw, with freshman teammate Loretta White throwing a personal best of 14.92m and placing second.

Freshman Bernice Balk also threw a personal best in the shot put (12.08), taking third place.

UP NEXT
The Bulls will compete next Friday, January 26^th, and Saturday, January 27^th, at the Penn State National Open. Buffalo will compete against some of the nation's best competition.

For more coverage of Buffalo men's and women's track & field, follow the program on X (@UB_XCTF), Instagram (@BullsTFXC) and Facebook ("Buffalo Track & Cross Country").