Post Classifieds
Track competes with nation's top teams
By Aaron Garland
On April 21, 2012
Buffalo State's men's and women's track and field teams weren't intimidated by being the only Division
III school competing at the University of Tennessee on Friday and Saturday, sending a split squad to the
meet. An abbreviated roster was also sent to the University of Rochester to compete on Saturday.
Both teams, especially the men, performed well against some of the best competition they will see
all spring at the Sea of Relays event at Tennessee. It was the second straight season that the team
competed against top talent at a Division I school, after traveling to Boston University during indoor
season.
"I liked our attitude from the start because in the past we've had teams go there and they would just be
kind of psyched out by seeing all those schools," assistant coach Markus Allen said. "This time around,
and for us to only have a few seniors on our team and have a lot of underclassmen, I really felt like they
went into the meet understanding what they had to do this time because we had a late start to our
season."
"It was a great starting point and I felt like the kids stood up to the challenge. They weren't intimidated."
Allen said the meet was based around their relay teams, as the men's 4x400-meter relay is ranked sixth
in the nation and in prime position to qualify for nationals in late May.
The 4x400 relay team of seniors Tim Fargino and Davon Rollins, sophomore Jimmy Campbell, and
freshman Alex Ngabo placed third out of five teams with a time of 3 minutes and 15.96 seconds, a feat
the participants were pleased with as they finished just over a second out of first place.
"The 4x4 was really where we did our main work," Campbell said. "We all ran our best, splits were really
fast, and we were ready to go."
Fargino agreed.
"It went fantastic for us," he said. "It was the best time I've seen from Buff State since I've been (here)."
Campbell made a statement in the 400-meter dash as well, placing seventh out of 24 competitors
(49.16). Despite a high finish, Campbell noted there is plenty of room for improvement moving forward
because his time wasn't nearly as fast as he knows he can run.
"I wasn't really happy with my time that I ran because last year, I ran in the low 48's multiple times, so
I was hoping to run a 48 at that meet, but I wasn't ready" he said. "I guess in the 400 competition, the
times weren't as fast as I was expecting, and that's why I placed as low as I did, because everyone else
wasn't running that fast either."
On top of being part of the impressive run by the relay team, Fargino and Ngabo placed sixth and
seventh out of 31 athletes in the 800, with times of 1 minutes, 54.14 seconds and 1 minute, 54.51
seconds, respectively. The race time was a personal best for Fargino.
"It (the 800) went really well," Fargino said. "I got out right - quick like I was supposed to, and as the
race fell down a little bit, ended up holding on until the end and running my best time ever, so I was
really happy with it."
The women also had a decent day considering the high-caliber athletes they competed against.
Freshmen Sabrina Brooks and Ana Rivera placed 19th and 21st in the 800 as they ran in a field of 37,
finishing with times of 2 minutes, 17.70 seconds, and 2 minutes, 18.78 seconds, respectively.
"We really exceeded our goals for this weekend," Allen said, "because again, this is our second meet, we
had a very tough week of training going into Thursday, and I'm really ecstatic right now."
While some of the squad was competing in Tennessee, others competed at the University of Rochester
Alumni Invitational, setting two new school records in the process.
Junior thrower Jordan Fuentes won the discus with a record-setting throw (48.61m), and freshman Matt
Allen placed third in the pole vault while becoming the new record holder in the event (4.35m).
Senior Jessica Walker highlighted the meet for the women, winning the long jump (5.13m) and placing
third in the triple jump (10.74m).
The teams will travel to Baldwin-Wallace in Ohio for their next meet Saturday.
Aaron Garland can be reached by email at garland.record@live.com
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