Buffalo State’s cross country teams are gaining steam.
Both the men’s and women’s teams braved poor running conditions to second and third place
finishes respectively at the Fredonia Invitational last Saturday.
Leading the way for the men were freshmen Bumkoth Jiak (26:14) and Alex Ngabo (26:17),
who placed second and third, respectively. Jiak finished just six seconds shy of Brockport’s
Chris Wilbur, who crossed first. Sophomore Kyle Foster finished seventh (26:47) to bolster the
Bengals’ attack. Freshman Jeremy Rushok crossed 15th (27:14), and junior Kyle Pilecki placed
20th (27:38).
Jiak and Ngabo both feel confident after pacing the Bengals in two straight races but
acknowledge that more work has to be done.
“This is my first time running cross country, and I felt good,” Ngabo said. “I feel like I’m getting
back into shape, but I’m not satisfied.”
According to head coach Dustin Dimit, the freshmen pair is expected to be two of the Bengals’
top three runners alongside top-runner, sophomore Arturo Salas, who didn’t compete. Foster
and Rushok will also be top-runners, rounding out what Dimit feels is the core of a “strong
championship team.”
“I’m really happy with how things went,” Dimit said. “We obviously wanted the men to win, but
considering our top runner [Salas] hasn’t run, we’re happy with the outcome.”
Dimit added that Salas will likely run in the Bengals’ next meet.
On the women’s side, things have improved since the team’s season opener at the Daniel Walker
Invitational two weeks ago. The Bengals placed third on Saturday and were led by freshman
Taylor Hock, who placed eleventh with a time of 24.32 seconds. Following her were junior
Victoria DiStefano in 12th (24:37), sophomores Ana Rivera in 14th (24:41), Rachel Parker in
15th (24:47) and Sabrina Brooks in 18th (24:56).
While Dimit views his women’s runners placing so close to one another as a positive, he stressed
the need for a front-runner to emerge. Hock appears to be one of the runners looking to fill that
role.
“I was really pleased with myself, especially since after our first race on our home course, I
didn’t do very well,” Hock said. “I feel really confident now and I’m looking at next week’s race
with a more positive outlook.”
Poor running conditions due to thunderstorms served as a challenge for all runners, but Dimit
noted that things cleared up as the meet began. Jiak was surprised at how well he ran.
“I normally run terrible in wet conditions, so I was happy I did well,” he said.
Hock said that the weather was a factor.
“It was really muddy,” she said. “A couple of people fell, so you had to be really careful with
your footing.”
The Bengals will travel to the University of Rochester on Saturday to take part in the
YellowJacket Invitational. Dimit believes the meet will be the real measuring stick for the
Bengals.
“We’re going to [compete against] a lot of nationally and regionally ranked teams and almost all
of our SUNYAC rivals,” Dimit said. “This meet will give us a good idea of where we stand.”