Bucknell University Athletics
Twelve Bucknell Women Named To The Patriot League Indoor Track All-League Team
3/1/2001 7:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
March 1, 2001
Bethlehem, Pa. - The Indoor Track and Field All-Patriot League teams are chosen based on the athlete's performances at the 2001 Patriot League Championship. The winners and runner-ups of each event are named All-League. The Bucknell women had three relay teams and six individuals named to the All-Patriot League team.
Headlining the group from Bucknell was junior Stephanie Bango (Smethport, Pa./Smethport) who came away from the league meet with four gold medals. She won the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.07 and defended her 800-meter title. Running the 400-meter run for the first time all season, Bango qualified for ECAC's and also set the second best 400-meter time in school history. Bango was named the Patriot League women's track athlete of the meet at the conclusion of the championship.
Bango was also a member of the 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relay teams, which won gold for the Bison. Her teammates on the 4x400-meter relay were junior LaTonya McSwain (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken), junior Christie Wolfgang (Rossiter, Pa./Punxsutawney), and sophomore Khadija Shariff (Lansdowne, Pa./Upper Darby). McSwain and Bango were also on the 4x800-meter relay foursome and have now garnered all-league honors for the past three years. McSwain also received individual honors by coming in second place in the 500-meter run. Wolfgang also receives all-league honors for the third time in her career while Shariff is a new member of the all-league team. Rounding out the gold medal 4x800 group was senior Laura Ryan (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) and junior Kelly McConnell (Danville, Pa./Danville).
Ryan, now a four-time all-league track athlete was also on the gold medal distance medal relay foursome with McConnell. Helping the women's distance medley relay team to victory were sophomores Michelle Baylor (Danville, Pa./Danville) and Nicki Piper (Mineral Point, Pa./Central Cambria). Both Baylor and Piper receive all-league honors for the first time while McConnell has now received the honor for the second straight indoor season.
Winning gold for the Bison on the individual front was freshman Jamie Lilien (Hillsdale, N.J./Pascack Valley). In her first conference meet, Lilien came away with a first-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.44. Her time in the hurdles was a personal record and third all-time in BU history.
Junior Becki Marshall (Montgomery, N.Y./Pine Bush Central) became a three-time member of the all-league team with a solid performance in the 3000-meter run. Marshall finished second in the event with a time of 10:06.16. The Bison racked up more long distance all-league honors when sophomore Andrea Beisser (Ames, Iowa/Ames) finished second in the 5000-meter run. Beisser finished the event with the sixth best time on the BU all-time performance charts, crossing the finish line at 12:29.92. Both Beisser and Marshall will be competing this weekend at the ECAC Championships due to their performances at the Patriot League meet.
Leading the Orange and Blue in the field events was junior Andrea Nyce (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) who finished second in the pole vault and triple jump. Nyce cleared a height of 11' 9 ?" in the pole vault and jumped a distance of 36' 11 ?" in the triple jump for her two silver medals. Her triple jump distance was good enough to move into seventh all-time on the BU charts. These are the first all-league honors for Nyce.
The BU women's indoor track & field team finished second at the conference meet for the first time in three years. All but two individuals from Bucknell who garnered all-league honors will be competing this weekend in Boston, Mass. at the IC4A Championships in the Reggie Lewis Center. The women will run both the 4x400 and 4x800-meter relays but will not compete in the distance medley relay.
