Bucknell University Athletics
Women's Track Wins, Men Finish Second At Metro Invitational
4/21/2001 8:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
April 21, 2001
Emmitsburg, Md. --- The Bucknell women's track team posted a first-place finish at the Metro Invitational while the men's team finished runner-up to St. Francis (PA) at the meet hosted by Mount St. Mary's. The Bison men posted five first-place finishes and scored a team total of 152.5 points, falling just three and a half points behind the victorious Red Flash. The Bucknell women had five firstplace showings and finished with 154 points, besting runner-up UMD-Eastern Shore (119) by 35 points.
Bucknell's long distance runners fared extremely well at the Metro Invitational as sophomores Bryan Johnston (Kane, Pa./Kane Area) and Lou Palma (Gladstone, N.J./Bernards) each won their respective events. Johnston won the 3000-meter steeplechase over three of his teammates by finishing the race in 9:26.7h. In the longest race of the afternoon, Palma took first place in the 5K with a 15:07.6h clocking.
The field events proved to be the Bucknell men's strongest events as three first-place finishes were recorded by the Bison. Freshman Emory Strother (Memphis, Tenn./White Station) was victorious in the long jump with a distance of 23' 8". This jump is a personal record for Strother and also the third best leap all-time at Bucknell. In the discus throw, senior Shawn Mathews (Youngstown, N.Y./Lewiston-Porter) continued his dominance by winning with a final throw of 155' 8". Rounding out the first place finishes for the BU men was senior Ryan Stairs (Somerset, Pa./Somerset Area) in the hammer throw with a toss of 191' 1".
Recording a first place finish for the Bison women was sophomore Theresa Dennis (Wilkes Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) in the 5000-meter run. Dennis won the event with a final time of 18:19.7h. For the first time this outdoor season the Bucknell women competed in the a 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay and came away with the gold. The foursome of junior Samatha Klotz (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional), freshmen Kelly Avila (East Providence, R.I./St. Mary Academy-Bayview) and Katherine Morrell (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), and sophomore Edwina Bourn (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) won with a time of 1:05.4h.
Similar in style to the men, three Bucknell women field athletes won their respective events. Junior Andrea Nyce (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) earned first place in the pole vault by clearing a height of 11'. Freshmen Erin Lee (Olean, N.Y./Olean) and Maria Garcia (Providence, R.I./Hope) exemplified the strength of the BU women throwers by winning the discus and hammer throws. Lee won the discus throw with a distance of 134' 8", while Garcia clinched first place in the hammer throw with a toss of 164'.
Junior Shannon Maher (Johnstown, Pa./Central Columbia) did not win the high jump but she did move up the Bucknell charts with her fourth place height of 5' 5". Maher's jump is a personal record and moves her out of a tie for fifth place into the fourth slot all by herself on the Bucknell top-ten performers chart.
The Bucknell men's and women's track and field teams will travel to the famous Penn Relays next weekend for competition on Thursday-Sunday, April 26-29.
