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Sports Recap
Steve Esler of the men's track-and-field team won the Mid-American Conference pentathlon championship with a school-record total of 5,251 points. Esler won three of the seven events—the shot put, high jump and 1000-meter run—and turned a 15-point deficit after the first day into a 22-point victory over the defending league champion, Dana Thomas of Central Michigan. Esler also placed fifth in the open high-jump championship.
Jennefer Brankovsky of the women's swim team won the MAC Swimmer of the Year award at the league championship after winning two events (200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley) and placing third in another (100 butterfly) in school-record and NCAA "B" cut times in each race. She also was part of the record-setting 800 free relay team in the meet and has set 11 records in two MAC Championship meets. She also became the third UB athlete to win a MAC specialty award.
Basketball
MEN'S
Toledo 66, UB 59
UB fought hard and battled Toledo down to the wire, but a late surge by the Rockets lifted them past the Bulls, 66-59, in Alumni Arena on Feb. 25.
UB jumped out to an early 12-4 lead and held a 16-10 advantage with 9:30 left in the half. Toledo responded with a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the game. Seemingly undaunted, the Bulls regained a 28-21 lead with 3:28 remaining in the half. The Rockets closed out the half on a 9-0 run capped by a Kareem Milson three-ball at the buzzer to take a 30-28 halftime lead.
Toledo held the lead for much of the second half, but the Bulls were able to match the Rockets, bucket-for-bucket, to stay within earshot. Roderick Middleton drained a three-pointer, with 7:03 left, to give the Bulls a 54-52 lead. Daniel Gilbert followed with a three of his own to give UB a three-point lead with 5:47 left. However, it was the last field goal the Bulls scored as Toledo finished the game on a 12-2 run to earn the victory.
WOMEN'S
UB 67, Akron 51
UB 69, Miami (OH) 64
With a pair of wins during the week, the Bulls secured a home game for the first round of the MAC Tournament on Saturday.
UB opened the week on Feb. 26 with a 67-51 win over visiting Akron before 708 fans in Alumni Arena. Senior Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe had her eighth 20-plus scoring performance of the season with a game-high 23 points to lead the Bulls' attack. Jessica Kochendorfer also finished in double figures for the Bulls with 14 points, while junior Kim Kilpela grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Hollie Cook added nine assists and a career-high six steals.
On Saturday, the Bulls extended their winning streak to six as they defeated Miami (OH), 69-64, in Oxford. McMeeken-Ruscoe led three players in double figures with 20 points, including 13 in the second half, and the Bulls shot 61.9 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes of play to complete their comeback after trailing by 11 with under 15 minutes to play.
Swimming
MEN'S
Bulls finish seventh at ECAC Championships
UB concluded the 2003 ECAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Pittsburgh's Trees Pool with a seventh place finish among 30 scoring teams. Maryland-Baltimore County easily won the team title.
Freshman diver Patrick Lee took a pair of second-place finishes in the three-day competition, scoring 461.75 points in Friday's three-meter event and 262.20 points in Sunday's one-meter final. Junior Jim Taravella also reached the championship podium in both events with a pair of seventh-place finishes.
UB will host the MAC Championships today through Saturday in Alumni Arena Natatorium. Preliminaries will begin at noon, with finals at 7 p.m. each day.
WOMEN'S
Brankovsky wins swimmer of the year as UB places eighth at MACs
Sophomore Jennefer Brankovsky earned MAC Swimmer of the Year and first-team All-MAC honors as the Bulls finished eighth out of nine teams at the MAC Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday.
Brankovsky established her third individual school-record and NCAA "B" cut qualifying mark with her victory in the 200 breaststroke—her second victory in the three-day meet. On Feb. 27, she won the 200 individual medley in a UB and MAC meet record time of 2:01.91. In the qualifying heats of Friday's 100 butterfly, she broke the school record in 55.38, and later finished third in the championship finals. All three times were good enough for possible entry into the upcoming NCAA Championship.
She was also part of UB's 800 free relay team, which set a school record in 7:38.98 for a fifth-place finish. Brankovsky swam the opening leg of the race, with Jolie Pun, Rachael Rubin and Melissa Schafer following.
Pun reached the championship final of the 200 freestyle as she placed sixth overall in 1:54.31, her top mark of the season.
Indoor track and field
Esler Wins Pentathlon Title at MAC Championships
The men's and women's indoor track-and-field teams completed the MAC Championships on Saturday, with the men taking eighth place overall among 10 teams, while the women took ninth in a 12-team field.
Steve Esler became a MAC champion in the heptathlon, scoring a school-record 5,251 points in the two-day competition.
In the women's championships, Laura Olson bettered her own pole-vault mark with her second-place finish at 12-9.50 (3.90m) and earned an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Faith Thompson increased her 20-pound weight throw record by almost a foot and a half with a toss of 60-4.50 (18.40m) to finish fourth overall and become the first UB woman to surpass the 60 foot mark.
The Bulls will travel to Boston for the ECAC/IC4A Championships next weekend.
Baseball
UB 7, Duke 6
Duke 8, UB 3
Duke 10, UB 0
Duke 3, UB 2
UB opened its 2003 campaign with a doubleheader split at host Duke on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls took the opening game, 7-6, while the Blue Devils rebounded to take the nightcap, 8-3, in seven innings.
In game one, Duke jumped out to 5-0 lead in the second inning. However, the Bulls countered as Adrian Daniels tripled to right center and John Boom hit a home run over the left field wall in the fourth inning. UB added three more runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at 5-5. UB went ahead in the top of the seventh inning when Joe Mihalics singled to left field and later scored on Brandon DiCesare's double to left field.
In game two, Duke jumped out to an 8-0 lead, capped by a six-run third inning, and never looked back. UB batted around and scored all three of its runs in the seventh inning.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils used early-inning explosiveness to sweep a doubleheader from the Bulls, 10-0 and 3-2, to wrap up the four-game series.
Softball
Florida A&M 10, UB 2
UB 8, Tennessee 2
UB 6, Furman 2
Florida International 5, UB 1
UB 2, Florida International 0
UB was named co-champion of the Florida International Tournament last weekend following a 2-0 win over the host Golden Panthers.
The Bulls shared the tournament title with Tennessee, a 5-0 winner over Furman in the other semifinal game. Due to Tennessee's travel schedule, no championship game was played. The Lady Vols finished the tournament with a 4-1 record, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Bulls, 8-2, on the opening day of the tournament. The Bulls finished the tournament with a 3-2 mark to get the 2003 season off to a strong start.
The Bulls are in Hawaii this week to participate in the Malihini Invitational, beginning today and running through Sunday.
Tennis
WOMEN'S
Western Michigan 7, UB 0
Northern Illinois 7, UB 0
The Bulls had a six-match winning streak snapped last weekend as they dropped both MAC matches against Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. UB now is 6-3 overall and 0-2 in league play as the team heads for Hawaii for three matches during spring break.
In the Western Michigan match, the Bulls had a strong performance from freshman Kristen Ortman. Ortman, playing second singles, pushed WMU's Malena Remynse to the limit before falling 6-4, 6-4.
On Saturday, Michelle Kollarova fell, 6-3, 6-2, to NIU's Tanja Sukovic in the day's most competitive match.