Women's Indoor Track & Field In Pursuit Of Fourth Straight Conference Title
2/13/2001 7:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Feb. 13, 2001
Lewisburg, Pa. - During this time of the indoor track & field season teams begin to prepare for what has become a fairly predictable result at the Patriot League Championships. The Army men and Bucknell women leave with the conference championship. The Bison hope that this season will be different as the men hope to join the women on victory lane.
In the men's indoor championship, the Bison have not won the title since the 1993 championship. Since then Army has run off seven straight titles with Bucknell finishing second the last six years. The men have a strong team across the board this season and hope to put an end to the Black Knight's dominance of the Patriot League.
The Bison women have followed a slightly different path at the conference championships having won the title the last three years. Last year, the women won the crown on their home turf in Gerhard Field House defeating their closest competitor, Navy, by 36 points. Yet again the primary competition for the Bison will come from the Midshipmen and this year Navy has the advantage of competing on its home turf in Halsey Field House.
The men currently have six individual's who have times or marks which rank as one of the top two times in the Patriot League this season. Leading the team into the Championship weekend is the only returning All-League performer from last year's squad, senior co-captain James Hollins (Feeding Hills, Mass./Northfield-Mt. Hermon School). Hollins finished second in the triple jump last year and currently owns two of the better long and triple jumps in the Patriot League this season. Sharing captain duties with Hollins this season has been one of the fastest men in the Patriot League. Junior David Gabriel (Sayre, Pa./Athens Area) has the fastest time in the 200-meter with 22.13 and the second fastest time in the league in the 55-meter dash at 6.51.
Freshman Noel Powell (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) plays a strong second fiddle to Gabriel in the 200-meter dash, owning the second best time in the league with a 22.20 clocking. Powell will more than likely increase his repertoire at the league meet by also competing in the 55-meter dash and long jump. A key event for the Bison could be the 1000-meter run, with Army returning last year's champion, sophomore Eric Furst (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen Central) will need to run a little bit faster than his league's second best time in the event of 2:27.75.
The Bison men look strong in the field events for this coming weekend as senior Ryan Stairs (Somerset, Pa./Somerset Area) and junior J.C. Whitaker (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) will provide valuable points in their respective events for the Bucknell cause. Stairs has been a solid performer all season for the Herd, as he is the current owner of the best toss in the league for the 35 lb. weight throw. His league standard toss of 58' 10 ?" was achieved at the Penn State National Open. In the pole vault, Whitaker is tied for second in the Patriot League after clearing a height of 15' 9" at the Hershey Relays.
Assistant Coach Joe Klim had the following to say about the men's squad, "The guys are very optimistic about this weekend, probably the most since I've been here as a coach. The biggest question heading into this meet is 'what is Navy going to do?' A lot will depend on how they perform at the meet. There is no question in my mind that it is going to be a dogfight, but I feel confident our guys will step up to the challenge from Army."
The women's team returns eight All-League performers from last year's championship team and look just as strong entering this weekend's meet. The Bison have been paced all season by the efforts of juniors Stephanie Bango (Smethport, Pa./Smethport) and LaTonya McSwain (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken). Both All-League performers from last year, Bango has the fastest time in the 800-meter and McSwain has the second fastest time in the league in the 500-meter run. At the Penn State National Open, Bango became a provisional National qualifier after being clocked at 2:09.43 in the 800-meter run.
Freshman Jamie Lilien (Hillsdale, N.J./Pascack Valley) could be a major factor at the championship meet for the Bison. A multi event performer for the Bison, Lilien has the league's fastest time in the 55-meter hurdle with an 8.45 clocking. She will also be competing in the pentathlon, which will take place on Friday, February 16 and the long jump and high jump.
Two events, which Bucknell could earn major points, are the 3000-meter and 5000-meter runs. Junior Becki Marshall (Montgomery, N.Y./Pine Bush Central), the 2000 cross-country individual champion, currently owns the leagues second fastest time in the 3K at 9:52.09. In the slightly longer 5000-meter run, sophomore Andrea Beisser (Ames, Iowa/Ames) holds the leagues second fastest time after finishing third at Colgate with a time of 17:32.50.
Leading the field athletes for Bucknell will be junior captains, Andrea Nyce (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) and Kim Zimbal (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) in the pole vault and triple jump, respectively. After a vault of 11'10" early in the indoor season, Nyce is still the second best pole-vaulter in the league to Navy's top pole-vaulter, Amanda Hasenauer. Zimbal enters the league meet as the favorite to win the triple jump. She has the league's longest hop-skip-jump with a distance of 37'.
Everything could be decided this weekend by the Bucknell women's relay teams. The 4x400-meter relay team of McSwain, junior Christie Wolfgang (Rossiter, Pa./Punxsutawney), senior Laura Ryan (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon), and Bango are the owners of the fastest time in the event with a 3:53.05 clocking at the Penn State National Open. Also fielding a strong team will be the women's distance medley relay foursome of Bango, sophomore Khadija Shariff (Lansdowne, Pa./Upper Darby), McSwain, and Marshall whose best time this indoor season is 11:58.46 at the Hershey Relays.
The women's primary competition will come from the host school, Navy, which is currently beating the Bison by a mere seven points on paper. "The reason our chances are good is because our team is extremely competitive and that will be our biggest advantage in a close meet in Navy's house. What will pull us through to a fourth straight title will be the team's competitive nature and togetherness," commented coach Klim on his team's chances at defending its fourth straight title.
The Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championship will begin this Friday, February 16, with the Men's Pentathlon beginning at 1:00 p.m. and Women's Pentathlon at 1:15 p.m. The rest of the championship will begin on Saturday, February 17, at 11:00 a.m. with the first field events and at 2:30 the running events will begin. The Patriot League crown will be decided Sunday, February 18, afternoon at the conclusion of the men's 4x400-meter relay, which will be run at 5:00 p.m. The Patriot League awards ceremony will begin immediately following the end of the race. All events for the Patriot League Championship will take place in the Halsey Field House at Navy in Annapolis, Md.