Penn Relays Day Two recap; Women's Tennis bows out of the MAC Tourney

Both UB Tennis teams made it into their respective MAC Tournaments this season via the very last slot. Of course, you know from earlier today how the men did with that opportunity.

The Women's Tennis team eked into the 6th seed of the MAC Tournament, but lost today in their first match against third-seeded Ball State. The final score is officially 4-0, abandoned after the Cardinals won the first four points. Only MAC Freshman of the Year Tanja Stojanovska was even up in her match when is was suspended.

The loss ends the season for Women's Tennis, a somewhat subpar one, though I do not know the preseason expectations. Among the MAC head coaches, Buffalo was predicted to finish sixth, as they did. Next year, expectations should be higher, as UB graduates only one senior in Laura Fernandez.

We'll have more in a little bit with a season wrap up.

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In track and field action, today was the day for a bulk of UB's competitors in the prestigious Penn Relays, and they did a touch better than Women's Tennis.

First things first, they were competing, so naturally another school record went down. This week it was from the distance runners, as the Women's 4x1500m relay broke a ten-year-old schools record by a full 45 seconds. Over a 6,000-meter race, that's not as massive a number as it might be even in a 3200, but it's still well more than half a lap. Meghan Manley, Melinda Wheeler, Corrine Birchard, and Amy Shaw were the record-setting quartet, and it's worth noting that Wheeler now has set three school records this year, and all three have done a measure to wipe Jen Jezorski off the books.

The star of the show on the men's side was, unsurprisingly, Jon Jones, who lived up to his seed in the Championship flight of the shot put, finishing second to only Penn State's Rich Hill. His throw of 19.81 meters was plenty good, but off his best. Devon Patterson, Ryan Cribbin, and Sean Harvey all competed in the College flight, finishing in that order.

Jones was one of four men's MAC auto-qualifiers on the day. Ryan Billian and Austin Ashby each leapt 7.33 meters in the long jump, Billian finishing fifth in the Championship flight and Ashby third in the College. Billian also hit the qualifier running 10.5 in the 100 meters, finishing as third qualifier.

The final especial highlight of the day was the men's Distance Medley Relay, who finished second overall, running the two-and-a-half miles in 9:56.54, just three seconds off the school record.

Also competing on the day were the men's 4x100 (16th) and women's 4x200 (22nd) relays, as well as Camaria Long in the 100 (17th) and Christine Lyttle in a (hopefully not injury-caused) very slow 18.00s 110 hurdles.

Tomorrow will conclude the Relays as UB will compete in a handful of events: the "College" championship of the men's 4x100m relay, the men's 4x800 and 4xMile, Ryan Billian in the 100 championship, and Austin Price in the triple jump. Note that some sources have UB in just three events, but both the 4x100 relay and Billian qualified for finals tomorrow.

Go Bulls