Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Indoor Track Heads To Boston For ECAC/IC4A Championship's
2/28/2001 7:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Feb. 28, 2001
Lewisburg, Pa. - After a very successful indoor track & field season and two second place finishes at the Patriot League meet, the Bucknell track team will conclude the indoor season this weekend, March 3-4, at the ECAC/IC4A meet in Boston, Mass at the Reggie Lewis Center. During the season 17 men and 13 women posted performances that qualified them for this post-season meet.
Headlining for the men's team will be the Patriot League triple jump individual champion, senior James Hollins (Feeding Hills, Mass./Northfield/Mt. Hermon). Hollins qualified for the triple jump early in the season when he cleared a distance of 47'9" at the Bucknell Invitational. His long jump of 23' 11 ?" at the conference meet was second best in school history and was an easy qualifier for IC4A's. Joining Hollins at the meet from the senior class will be thrower, Ryan Stairs (Somerset, Pa./Somerset Area), who qualified when he threw 58' 10 ?" at the Nittany Lion Invitational.
Also appearing in two events for the men this weekend will be freshman Noel Powell (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) in the 200-meter dash and the long jump. Powell qualified in the 200-meter dash at a meet with Lafayette, St. Joseph's and Maryland-Eastern Shore when he ran a time of 22.20. His third place leap of 23'8" at the Patriot League meet qualified him in the long jump. Junior David Gabriel (Sayre, Pa./Athens Area) will be competing against Powell in the 200-meter dash after qualifying with a blistering time of 22.13 at the Patriot League meet.
Junior J.C. Whittaker (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) and sophomore Greg Costello (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) will be the only other two Bison men to compete in individual events. Whittaker, a pole vaulter on the indoor team, qualified for the IC4A meet after clearing a height of 15' 9" at the Hershey Relays. Costello will be the lone representative from Bucknell in the 3K race after qualifying with a time of 8:29.51 at Patriot League Championships.
The women's team will only have four individuals compete at the ECAC Championship meet. Long distance specialists, junior Becki Marshall (Montgomery, N.Y./Pine Bush Central) and sophomore Andrea Beisser (Ames, Iowa/Ames), will compete in the 3000-meter and 5000-meter runs, respectively. Marshall's fastest time in the 3000-meter race was 9:52.09 at the Nittany Lion Invitational on January 27th. This is the second fastest time on the all-time performers list at Bucknell. Beisser qualified for ECAC's after running the 5000-meter run in 17:29.92 at the Patriot League Championship meet.
Under the watchful eye of assistant coach Joe Klim this season, junior Andrea Nyce (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) and freshman Shannon Benson (Visalia, Calif./Golden West) have qualified for the ECAC Championship meet in the pole vault. Nyce, the school record-holder in the pole vault, set the record when she cleared 11'10" at the Bucknell Invitational in the first competition of the indoor season. Benson narrowly qualified for the ECAC meet by clearing the qualification height of 10'10" at the Hershey Relays.
The Orange and Blue will have a total of five different relay teams compete at the ECAC/IC4A meets this weekend. The men's 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay and the distance medley relay will all be in competition this weekend. The women's 4x400-meter relay and 4x800-meter relay, both Patriot League Championship teams, will also be competing in the ECAC meet.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team qualified for IC4A's after completing the event in 3:20.21 at the Nittany Lion Invitational. The foursome will be comprised of senior Andy Hunsberger (Southampton, Pa./William Tennent), sophomore Brian Klotz (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) and freshmen Justin Crane (Allentown, Pa./Emmaus) and Christopher Edwards (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area). The foursome's qualifying time of 3:20.21 is the fifth fastest recorded time in Bucknell indoor track history.
Finishing second at the Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championship meet was the men's 4x800-meter relay foursome. In a very fast race the foursome of senior Matt Davis (Bay Head, N.J./The Peddie School), junior P.J. Ward (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood), freshman Aaron Hanlon (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and sophomore Eric Furst (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen Central) qualified with a time of 7:40.70. The men's distance medley relay time, which qualified with a time of 10:09.09 at the Nittany Lion Invitational, needed a run-off to determine the make-up of its four runners. Senior Brad Wertz (Altoona, Pa./Bellwood-Antis), junior Michael Euell (Garnerville, N.J./North Rockland), junior Cotie Strong (Roaring Branch, Pa./Canton) and sophomore Matias Palavecino (Gaithersburg, Md./Watkins Mill) will be the four Bison runners competing in the men's distance medley relay.
The Bison will be bringing out the big guns in the women's 4x800-meter relay team. The foursome of junior LaTonya McSwain (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken), junior Kelly McConnell (Danville, Pa./Danville), senior Laura Ryan (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon), and Stephanie Bango (Smethport, Pa./Smethport) will attempt to improve on their qualifying time and eighth best time in school history of 9:12.97. The women's 4x400-meter relay team competing at ECAC's will be composed of juniors Christie Wolfgang (Rossiter, Pa./Punxsutawney) and Kristin Kyzmir (Lisle, N.Y./Whitney Point) and sophomores Khadija Shariff (Lansdowne, Pa./Upper Darby) and Nicki Piper (Mineral Point, Pa./Central Cambria).
After this weekend's competition all that is left on the indoor schedule is the NCAA meet in Arkansas and only those who qualify will head to the National meet on March 10-11. The outdoor track & field season will begin on March 16-17 in Charlotte, N.C. at the 49er Classic.
