BUFFALO STATE ATHLETICS
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the All-Region honorees for the 2017 NCAA Division III outdoor season, naming 14 Buffalo State track and field athletes to the All-Atlantic Region team.
On the men’s side, individual honors went to Benjamin Ezike (Staten Island/Susan Wagner) in the triple jump, Darren Thompson (Buffalo/St. Joe’s) in the 200m dash, and Cody Sikora (N. Tonawanda/N.Tonawanda) in the 400m event.
Phil Giuga (Tonawanda/Tonawanda), Mohamed Kouyate (Bronx/Dreamyard Prep), Robert Liebel (Tonawanda/Tonawanda) and Sikora were named all-region in the 4x400m relay while James Willard (Albany/Albany) and Elijah Lawal (Duanesburg/Duanesburg) joined Liebel and Thompson to earn honors in the 4x100m relay as well.
On the women’s side, Dayonna Holmes (Rochester/Charlotte) was honored for the long jump and Ronni Kordrupel (East Aurora/Iroquois) was named all-region in the 800m dash.
Holmes was joined by Catarra Burroughs (Rochester/Wilson Magnet), Satin Holmes (Rochester/Wilson Magnet) and Keanna McKnight (Queens/Springfield Gardens) to earn the honors for the 4x100m relay.
To be named all-region, an athlete must either be ranked in the top five of an individual event in the region, or be part of a top-three relay team, according to the final Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) data for the season.
Buffalo State will be sending Ezike (triple jump), the men’s 4x400m relay team of Liebel, Giuga, Sikora and Kouyate and the women’s 4x100m team of Holmes, Holmes, Burroughs, and McKnight to the NCAA Division III National Championships that will be held May 25-27 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Ezike, who won the triple jump last season as a junior, enters this year’s meet with the seventh-best mark in the nation at 14.90 meters. He will compete on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay enters seeded 10th with a season-best time of 3:14.17, just over two seconds off the pace of top-seeded Middlebury. The prelims will be held on Thursday at 5:15 p.m., and the finals close the meet on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The women’s 4x100m team enters with the seventh best time (47.11) in the 16-team field. Buffalo State will compete in the prelims on Thursday at 2 p.m. and if it qualifies in the top-8, it will run for a national championship on Saturday at 12:05 p.m.
Fans can follow along with live results of this weekend’s National Championships right here, with the final results getting posted to buffalostateathletics.com.
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