Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Metro Invitational
Women Take the Prize and Men Finish Runner-Up At Metro Invitational
4/27/2001 8:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
April 27, 2001
Men Women 1. St. Francis (PA) 156 1. Bucknell 154 2. Bucknell 152.5 2. UMD-Eastern Shore 119 3. UMD-Eastern Shore 75.5 3. Georgetown 111 4. Morgan State 68 4. St. Francis (PA) 90 5. Mount St. Mary's 67.5 5. Morgan State 86.5 6. Georgetown 62 6. Mount St. Mary's 64 7. UMBC 59 7. UMBC 53 8. Coppin State 50 8. Howard 43 9. Howard 41.5 9. Coppin State 26.5Emmitsburg, 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 first-place 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".
The men's 4x100 relay team of sophomore Matt Solomon (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg Area), junior David Gabriel (Sayre, Pa./Athens Area), and freshmen Doug Coen (Oakton, Va./Oakton) and Noel Powell (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) broke their own school record that they had set the weekend before with a new time of 41.74.
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.
