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Bucknell Women's Cross Country Team Ready for Season
Head coach Kevin Donner is beginning his fifth season with Bucknell and is looking to improve from last season's fourth-place finish at the Patriot League Championships. Donner has seven key returners and a few new runners he will count on to lead the Bison to a top spot in the Patriot League as well as the Mid-Atlantic Region. Receiving two first-place votes, Bucknell was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League, in the recent preseason poll.
"I am very excited about this year's team," says Donner. "We return most of our runners, including four ladies who broke 18 minutes last year in the 5 kilometer race. We also are returning four different ladies who broke 4 minutes, 50 seconds for the 1500-meter run." Junior captain Leanna Nastase returns in 2005 as Bucknell's top competitor from last season. Nastase finished first for Bucknell in five races last season, and was also Bucknell's lone All-Patriot League selection with a second-team nod after finishing 12th at the conference meet. Donner will look to Nastase, as well as fellow captains, seniors Jen O'Connor and Kerryann Branker, to fill leadership roles this season. O'Connor is a strong runner whose best performance landed her among the Bison top five at last season's ECAC Championships. Branker finished the season ranking seventh among Bison runners at the Patriot League Championships and at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet. Her best time 6K time last season was 23:20, clocked at the Penn State National Invitational.
Other leading returning runners include junior Christa Sawko, sophomore Erin Cranmer-Hart, senior Kayla Halloran and juniors Lauren Bricker and Jennifer Stevens. Following Nastase, Sawko is the highest-returning PL finisher for Bucknell after turning in a 16th-place finish at the league meet. Donner will look to Sawko to be a leader on the course for the Bison this season. Cranmer-Hart had an outstanding rookie campaign with six scoring finishes, including a pair of second-runner efforts for the Bison at the Gulden Invitational and the Penn State National Invitational. She finished two places behind Sawko at the PL Championships, crossing the line in the 18th spot. Halloran was Bucknell's fourth runner at the PL Championships, placing 19th overall, right behind Cranmer-Hart. Halloran has served as a strong runner for the Bison over the past three years, and in 2003, she earned second team all-league honors. She also won the 5K title at the 2005 PL Indoor Track Championships. Bricker finished in the 45th slot at the PL Championships as Bucknell's 11th best runner. At the NCAA Regional Meet, Bricker finished seventh on the squad, and 132nd overall. The Bison also have another strong returner in Stevens, whose strongest performance of the season was at the Iona Meet of Champions, where she finished first on the squad with a time of 23:18.8, good enough for 52nd place overall. She turned in a 30th place finish at PL Championships, finishing sixth among all Bison runners. Two talented newcomers to the squad are Gillian Nordquist and Nichole Smith. Donner is looking for the duo to make a positive contribution early in its collegiate career. SCHEDULE The Bison have a full schedule this fall, including both low-key tuneups as well as major invitationals. Bucknell will kick off the season with its only home competition of the season in the Bison Open on Sept. 2. The Bison will then hit the road with the Detroit Invitational in Northville, Mich. (Sept. 10), before coming back East for the George Washington Invitational in Centerville, Va (Sept. 24). Bucknell will then hit the bigger invitational portion of its season with the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 1, on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. The Paul Short Invitational will serve as the Bison's first look at a course they will see three times over the fall. Paul Short should draw some high-powered national competition as Lehigh will also be hosting the NCAA Mid-East Regional Championships on Nov. 12. Lehigh will also be the site of the Patriot League Championships on Oct. 29. The Bison will also hit the Penn State National Invitational on Oct. 15, where the squad will be up against some tough competition as the Invitational is typically one of the best on the East Coast, featuring a number of nationally ranked programs. Following the Regional Championships, Bucknell will make the trip to the IC4A-ECAC Championships in the Bronx, N.Y. (Nov. 19), where it will see competition from across the Northeast. The NCAA Championships are then scheduled for Nov. 21, in Terre Haute, Ind. Bucknell's Regional performance will determine its chances at earning an automatic or at-large bid to NCAAs.
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