Bengals jump to second place finish

Taylor Moran, Reporter

The Buffalo State men’s and women’s track and field teams placed second out of nine teams over the weekend at the SUNYAC Championships in Brockport.

Dominating the sprints, the women’s team had 112 points as senior Jazlyn Porter, sophomore Catarra Burroughs and senior Shutonee Pricher all claimed individual titles.

The men’s team dominated the long and triple jump where the team scored 50 of its 109.5 points and claimed two individual titles – senior Corey Cox with a long jump title mark of 6.93 points and sophomore Mohamed Kouyate in the 400-meter dash with a mark of 49.2 seconds, the 14th-best time in D-III on Saturday.

“We were feeling really good with our times; we all ran well,” Kouyate said. “Our team was positive that we could turn it around even though people were injured. “

Porter led Buffalo State in points with a first place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.87 seconds, coming in fourth in the long jump with a mark of 7.84 meters, and a second-place time in the 200-meter dash (25.79 seconds).

“Our jumpers were amazing, they basically put the team on their back,” Cox said. “There were a few things that we could have done better, it does stink to come in second when we were so close, but I thought we did really well overall.”

Burroughs took the win in the 60-meter dash and her time of 7.79 seconds was the 16th best time in D-III. Pricher won the 200-meter dash (25.76 seconds) and placed second in the 60-meter dash (7.84 seconds).

Also placing for Buffalo State were seniors Sasa Vann and Sam Brathwaite in the high jump along with senior Rich Pete in the long jump, who were all second-team ALL-SUNYAC runner ups.

Looking forward to next week, Cox and Kouyate look to secure a spot at nationals in the 400-meter dash with their teammates.

“We are trying to get our 400-meter time down to secure our spot at nationals, I know we can do it,” Cox said. “We honestly believe we can have a great All-American 4 by 4.”

The team will compete Friday and Saturday at Staten Island in the ECAC Championships for one more try at qualifying for the NCAA Championships in Iowa on March 12.

“There were certain things we couldn’t do; our team wasn’t big enough for certain events, but we fought hard and I can’t be mad at that,” Cox said. “I know a lot of people were hurt; our team was banged up pretty bad, but even when we realized we were behind in points, we never gave up.”

Leaving Saturday’s meet in the past, the team will practice this week and will be working on their conditioning and speed in preparation for Nationals.

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