Sports

Women’s Track: Mercy grad sets school record at Buffalo State

McGann-Mercy graduate Saśa Vann became an All-American today in the 4 x 400 relay at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. (Credit: Buffalo State Athletics)
McGann-Mercy graduate Saśa Vann set a school record in the 400-meter dash for Buffalo State. (Credit: Buffalo State Athletics)

Saśa Vann, a former Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School athlete, claimed a pair of conference titles as Buffalo State rallied to finish second in the eight-team State University of New York Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Geneseo. 

Vann sprinted to victory in the 400-meter dash with a winning time of 57.66 seconds. In the preliminaries, she set school and track records and posted the 11th-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season at 56.89 seconds.

Vann also joined Nia Holmes, Tara Murphy and Jazlyn Porter to win the title in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:55.17. Vann also placed eighth in the 200-meter dash (26.02).

Vann was to be recognized this week as Buffalo State’s Female First-Year Athlete of the Year.

Vann has done well off the track as well. The sophomore sprinter was one of 21 athletes in the conference selected as a recipient of a SUNY Chancellor’s Scholar-Athlete Award. The award was created in 2003-04 to recognize students who have combined academic excellence and outstanding athletic achievement at SUNY schools. One recipient from each sport who has earned a minimum grade-point average of 3.3 for at least three semesters and is an All-Conference caliber athlete is chosen annually within the SUNYAC. A student-athlete can only win the award once per sport.

Vann, a hospitality and tourism major, has maintained a 3.84 cumulative GPA through her first two years at Buffalo State. In less than two complete seasons with the Bengals’ track and field programs, she has already helped set six school records, and as a freshman, earned second team All-SUNYAC honors as the runner up in the 400-meter dash and the 4×400 relay. This past indoor season, she elevated her stature, winning a pair of SUNYAC championships in the 400 and the 4×400 relay. She also captured her first All-America certificate as a member of the 4×400 relay team that placed fifth at the NCAA Division III Championships.