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Sports Recap
Allison Laske of the outdoor track-and-field team extended her UB career by another couple of weeks after earning a trip to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships. The senior earned her first berth to the nationals by finishing fourth in the 800 meters in 2:07.05 at the NCAA East Regionals held at the University of Florida last weekend. Laske advanced to Saturday's finals after winning her preliminary heat in a time of 2:08.98 on Friday. She was one of only nine runners in the 28-runner field to advance to the finals.
Laura Olson earned her third trip to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships with a third-place finish in the pole vault at the NCAA East Regionals. Olson set a school record by clearing 13-5.75" in the event, tying for first in height but finishing third based on number of misses. The senior finished 13th at the outdoor national championships last year, clearing 13-1.5" and falling just short of All-American status. Olson placed 14th at the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year.
Outdoor Track and Field
Laske, Olson qualify for NCAA Championships
Seniors Allison Laske and Laura Olson both qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships following impressive performances at the NCAA East Regionals over the weekend at the University of Florida's Percy Beard Track.
Laske earned her first berth to the nationals by finishing fourth in the 800 meters on Saturday in a time of 2:07.05. She qualified for the 800 meter final by claiming her heat—the third of four on Friday—in a time of 2:08.98. Laske advanced as one of only nine runners in the 28-runner field to the finals, taking the lead at the 300-meter mark and conserving energy while finishing first.
Olson earned her third career trip to the NCAA Championships with a third-place finish in the pole vault on Friday. She set a new school record by clearing 13-5.75" in the event, tying for first in height but finishing third based on number of misses. Princeton's Chelo Canino took first place with just one miss until her final height. Olson finished 13th at the national championships last year, clearing 13-1.5", and placed 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year. The top eight in the country earn All-American status, an achievement that a UB track-and-field athlete has earned once before, when Shelly Hamilton finished eighth in the high jump in 1998.
Joining Olson and Laske at the NCAA Championships will be decathlete Steve Esler. Esler provisionally qualified for the national meet with a point total of 7,306 at the Hillsdale Gina Relays in late April-good enough to earn him an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. The decathlon was not contested at the East Regionals. The NCAA Championships will be held June 9-12 in Austin, Texas.
In other events at the NCAA East Regionals, sophomore thrower Sarah Vance finished 23rd in the shot put with a throw of 46-4, and 31st in the hammer with a toss of 158-10. UB also got a strong performance from distance runner Jenny Koeppel, who finished 16th in a field of 39 in a time of 16:54.67 in the 5,000 meters.
On the men's side, freshman jumper Rayshon Higgins finished 19th in the triple jump with a distance of 45-10, and freshman Brian Heim finished sixth in his heat in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of :53.36 but did not advance to the finals. Heim won the Mid-American Conference 400-meter hurdles title last month.
Basketball
MEN'S
Christian Schmidt has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UB and play with the men's basketball team, according to head coach Reggie Witherspoon. Schmidt, a 6-8, 200 lb. forward, was a high school teammate of Bulls' center Yassin Idbihi. Schmidt averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and shot an impressive 44 percent from the international three-point line. Schmidt also was a member of Germany's Under-20 Junior National Team.
The 21-year-old Schmidt will have four years of eligibility.
Academic Honors
UB student-athletes earn academic honors
Jolie Pun of the women's swimming-and-diving team was named to the 2003-04 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District I Women's At-Large First Team. She now will be placed on the national ballot for a chance at garnering Academic All-America honors, which will be announced on June 17. Pun, a senior chemistry major with a 3.97 GPA and a team captain, swam the second leg of UB's record-setting 800 freestyle relay at the Mid-American Conference Championships. Individually, Pun finished 13th in the 200 freestyle in a season-best 1:53.87 and 16th in the 1,650 freestyle in 17:25.51 at the conference meet.
Pun is one of four UB student-athletes to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District I honors this year. Turner Battle of the men's basketball team and softball players Stacey Evans and Breanne Nasti also were honored.
In addition, five UB student-athletes earned Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors last week for their respective sports. The Academic All-MAC honor is for student-athletes who have excelled in both athletics and academics. To qualify, a student must have at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of his or her team's contests. The Academic All-MAC Teams are selected by faculty athletic representatives at the 13 MAC schools.
Earning the honor for UB were Stacey Evans (Jr., 3.617 GPA, business administration) and Breanne Nasti (Sr., 3.664 GPA, psychology), Academic All-MAC Softball Team; Jenny Koeppel (Jr., 3.666 GPA, mathematics) and Allison Laske (Sr., 3.336 GPA, management), Academic All-MAC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Team, and Bryan Weinstein (Jr., 3.785 GPA, Management), Academic All-MAC Men's Outdoor Track and Field Team.