The 2014-2015 Buffalo State men’s and women’s track and field outdoor season is approaching the midpoint, and the athletes are fighting to qualify for the SUNYAC Championship, which take place in just three weeks.

This past weekend, half of the team traveled to Nazareth College in Rochester, NY to compete with other local schools in the ROC City Classic. The other half was resting up after their recent trip to California.

“I’m pretty excited,” senior Kyle Foster said. “If I qualify for SUNYACs, then I’m going to give it my all and hopefully that’s enough.”

Many athletes, who had strong performances at Nazareth, like senior Rosie Brown, qualified for the SUNYAC Championship.

“It makes me really happy just because it is my senior year,” Brown said, “and I want to finish the season well. So far, the first race of the season is a personal best and I already qualified for the Championship. Now it is just staying healthy until the championships.”

The weather often plays a big part and is an unpredictable variable for outdoor track and field events. At Nazareth, the conditions were not ideal.

“Very cold,” Brown said. “Not as bad as cross country cold, but still cold. The sun wasn’t shining, but I still managed to warm up properly and stay warm during the race.”

Both Brown and Foster are distance runners for Buffalo State. Brown finished the women’s 10k run in exactly 42 minutes. Foster finished the men’s 10k run in 33 minutes, 49.8 seconds.

“The conditions were a little bad,” Foster said. “It was windy and cold, but I think overall I did alright. It made the first couple miles a little bit harder because my body had to warm up. After that, it didn’t really bother me that much.”

Senior Jessica Massey, who typically competes in jumps and sprints, tried something new at the Nazareth meet.

“I have never done the event [javelin throw] before,” Massey said. “So the first time I threw it, it went 24.98 meters, which is about 81 feet and overall I was seeded ninth. I went to the finals and I did one better than what I was supposed to do.

“I had a weird twerk on my last throw, so that kind of threw me off.”

Later on in the meet, Massey performed well in an event she was a bit more familiar with, the triple jump. She registered a distance of 10.2 meters.

Many of the athletes are limiting themselves in order to make sure their bodies are ready for the Championships.

“I am not sure if I will be running the 10k or not because the week after that is SUNYACs,” Foster said, “and normally you don’t want to keep doing a 10k for long periods of time because it will drain you. So I am not sure what will happen, but I am looking forward to it.”

Buffalo State’s track and field teams will go to Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio, on Saturday, April 18 with the SUNYAC Championships two weeks later on May 1 and 2.