University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 22, 2003

Baseball

Northern Illinois 15-6, UB 2-4
Kent State 13, UB 9
Kent State 2-13, UB 1-4
Kent State 10, UB 0

UB closed the 2003 campaign with road trips to Northern Illinois and Kent State. The Bulls were swept in a doubleheader by Northern Illinois on May 13, dropping game one, 15-2, and falling, 6-4, in the nightcap.

The Bulls then traveled to Kent State and were swept in a four-game, weekend series. UB dropped a 13-9 slugfest on Friday, was swept in a doubleheader on Saturday, 2-1 and 13-4, and lost the finale on Sunday, 10-0.

The Bulls got a solid pitching performance from Nick Bellacose in game one of Saturday's twin bill. The junior hurler tossed a complete game and held the Golden Flashes to two runs on five hits.

Track and Field

Pair of MAC champions highlights league meet

The men's and women's track-and-field teams posted a pair of league champions and set several new school records at the 2003 Mid-American Conference Championships held May 15 through Saturday in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. The men placed seventh among 11 teams with 53.25 points, while the women's team was ninth in the 13-team meet with 45 points. Central Michigan (158) and Eastern Michigan (117.50) won the men's and women's team titles, respectively.

Two Bulls won individual titles at the meet. Men's decathlete Carlos Williams won the 10-event competition with a total score of 6,561 points. Williams rallied from second place after the first five events of the two-day competition to score his first league title, winning by more than 150 points. Of the 10 events, he won the shot put at 42-11.75 (13.10m) and the discus at 126-10 (38.66m) and tied for first in the 100-meter dash (11.2). Teammate Steve Esler finished seventh with 6,068 total points after leading through the first day. He won the high jump at 5-8.75 (2.05m).

Women's pole vaulter Laura Olson became a MAC champion with her winning mark in the pole vault competition. Olson, the school record holder in the pole vault, bettered her record by a quarter-inch and won the event by nearly four inches. She cleared 13-1.75 feet (4.01m) to win the title, also establishing a Central Michigan University track record.

The Bulls' weight throwers were the lone point scorers during the meet's opening day. Keith Gentes placed second in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 190-5 (58.04m), just shy of his personal-best and NCAA regional qualifying mark of 190-7 (58.10m) set at last month's UB Chancellor's Cup. In the women's hammer throw, Faith Thompson placed fifth at 179-0 (54.57m) to improve on her NCAA regional qualifying mark of 176-0 (53.64m) set two weeks ago at Akron.

Other highlights from the first day of the meet included Jerimie Slick breaking his own record in the 10,000 meters by completing the distance in 30:29.19 to place ninth overall and slice six seconds off the mark he set last season. Women's distance runner Jenny Koeppel turned in a personal best with her 38:48.93 clocking in the women's 10,000 meters to finish 12th.

On Friday, the Bulls posted two additional school records. Shot putter Byron McKinney broke his own mark with a third-place finish of 56-5.75 (17.21m). The throw bettered his old record, set in the season-opening Alabama Relays of 55-9.75 (17.01m). Women's heptathlete Meagan Rogers also established a new record with her finish in the seven-event competition. Rogers scored 4,921 points to place fourth overall and improve on last season's MAC Championship total of 4,793 points.

Women's shot putters Sarah Vance and Thompson took fourth and fifth, respectively, in their event. Vance finished with a throw of 44-6 (13.56m), while Thompson recorded a toss of 44-4.75 (13.53m). Jessica Moldovan raced to an eighth-place finish in the steeplechase in 11:13.25.

The meet's final day saw more impressive results as the men's 4x400 relay squad of Bryan Weinstein, Tim Giagios, Tom Abbey and Joe Clark turned in a second-place finish of 3:12.66, just a second shy of the school record set in 1995. Weinstein, Abbey and Clark were joined by Mario Hicks to form the 4x100 relay team that took fifth in 41.53, tying the school record set last season. Individually, Hicks took fourth in the 110 hurdles in 14.74, with Erich Smithson finishing seventh in the race in 14.87. Clark placed fifth in the 400-meters in 47.45. Slick took sixth in the 5,000-meters in 14:40.13 and Dan Simpson tied for eighth in the pole vault at 15-1.

Senior Christina Keck broke a 10-year old women's record with her performance in the 1500-meter run on Saturday. Keck turned in a 4:34.59 to finish eighth in the field and break the record of 4:36.54 set by Judith Novak in 1993. Keck also placed sixth in the 800-meters in 2:14.76. Beverly Weyer registered a fifth-place finish in the discus at 141-5 (43.11m). Biaunca McFarland placed sixth in the triple jump at 40-1.50 (12.23m) and Jenelle Callender finished seventh in the 400-meters in 57.43. The 4x100 relay team of Callender, Krystal Seiling, Pauletta Dickerson and McFarland placed eighth in 47.09, breaking last year's school record by three-quarters of a second. McFarland, Callender, Allison Laske and Seiling formed the 4x400 relay team that finished seventh in 3:49.91.

The Bulls will have one more chance to improve on their season results with the NCAA East Regional meet May 30 and 31 in Gainesville, Fla. Throughout the regular season, UB has qualifyed eight athletes in nine events for the competition that will determine the field for the NCAA Championships to be held in Sacramento, Calif., next month.