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Bucknell Cross Country Challenged by Duquesne
Sept. 19, 2009
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Bucknell cross country earned a pair of second-place individual finishes at Duquesne on Saturday as the Bison took on the Dukes in a dual meet. Despite four top-10 finishes for both the men’s and the women’s squads, the men fell to the Dukes 24-32 while the women were toppled 23-33 on the Schenley Oval. Andrew Huebner (Hampton Falls, N.H./The Governor’s Academy) earned his second consecutive second-place finish on the 8-kilometer course, crossing the line in 25:08. The senior led the way for the Bison who also placed Conor McNamara (Baldwin, N.Y./Chaminade) (fourth, 25:35), Kevin McGoldrick (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) (sixth, 25:59) and Dave Brown (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) (ninth, 26:17) in the top 10. The top runners gave head coach Kevin Donner reason for optimism in his team’s progress in the year’s second meet. “Although we got beat, I did see a lot of encouraging things from our team,” said Donner. “They gave a good Duquesne team a tough meet on their home course.” On the women’s side, Sarah Moniz (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional) and Alysha Hooper (Meaford, Ontario/St. Mary’s) took second and third, respectively, on the 5-kilometer course. Moniz posted a time of 18:30, while Hooper was close behind at 18:44.
Donner was pleased with how the Bison women competed against Duquesne, but saw room for improvement as the season continues. “Duquesne had a fantastic day. They were very hungry and fired up,” the coach said. “We ran pretty decently but not good enough to beat a much improved team. Moniz and Hooper ran great. We need to close that gap with some of our others if we want a chance at the Patriot Leagues.” Rounding out the top five Bison women were Kelly Grosskurth (Huntington Station, N.Y./Half Hallow Hills East), Kara Weichler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) and Alexa Griffiths (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua). The Bison will race again on Oct. 2 at the Paul Short Memorial Invitational hosted by Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. TOP BISON MEN FINISHERS TOP BISON WOMEN FINISHERS |