Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Cross Country Opens Season with Talented Sophomore Core
8/26/2003 8:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Aug. 26, 2003
Lewisburg, Pa. - Behind top-ten finishes from Theresa Dennis, who came in second, and Alison Cole, who finished eighth and returns to this year's team, the Bucknell women's cross country squad came as close as it could to first place without capturing the 2002 Patriot League title.
The Bison finished second to American by one point, 42-43.
Unfortunately for the Bison, the Eagles aren't going away, but Bucknell will field a fine team to contend with American and the rest of the conference elite.
"American, Army, Navy, and Bucknell are the class of the conference. We return a lot of our women, but we will be very young. We will have a lot of freshmen and sophomores in our top seven. Our goal is to win the Patriot League and improve on last year's sixth-place finish in the Mid-Atlantic Regional," Donner said.
Bucknell will count on Cole, Rachel Tutmaher, Kayla Halloran, and Katie Pfeifer to lead the Bison in 2003. All four are now seasoned veterans following a successful campaign last year.
Cole, a sophomore from Waterville, Me., never finished lower than fifth among Bucknell's runners last year. In the eight meets she ran, Cole placed either second or third on the Bison list five times, coming in fifth in her other meets. She also had four top-20 finishes overall, with her most successful finish being her eighth-place effort at the league finals.
Tutmaher, a sophomore from Sugar Grove, Pa., had five top-five finishes among Bucknell's competitors last year. Her top overall finish was 11th at the Gulden Invitational. Tutmaher finished 22nd at the league finals.
Halloran is a sophomore as well, from Norwell, Mass. In her first three meets, she had Bucknell's second-best time twice in addition to a third-place Bison finish. She had four top-20 finishes, with her highest place coming at the Gulden, where she finsihed sixth. At the league finals, Halloran took 19th.
Pfeifer, a junior from Catonsville, Md., finished in the top ten among Bucknell runners in all but one of her races, with her top overall finish coming at the Gulden Invitational (12th). Pfeifer finished 13th at the league championships.
But those four aren't the only high finishers to return for the Bison this year. Jamie Gow, a sophomore from Brookline, Mass., came in 14th at the league finals and never placed lower than sixth among her teammates last season. Overall, her other top-20 finish came at the Gulden, where she finished eighth.
Julie Jakoboski, a sophomore from Tolland, Conn., took 31st in the league finals. She had a top-ten finish among her teammates at every meet, and had Bucknell's second-best time at the Pre-NCAA Open. Her top overall finish was 14th, at the Messiah Invitational.
Rounding out Bucknell's returning finishers from the top-50 crowd at the league finals last season is Jennifer Malcolm. The senior from West Chester, Pa., had two meets in which she had Bucknell's third-best time, including the Messiah Invitational and the Pre-NCAA Open. At the Messiah, Malcolm took ninth overall.
Looking at the team as a whole, Donner was right on when he described his team as young but experienced. In all, of the 31 women on the roster, only nine are juniors or seniors, while there are 15 sophomores in addition to seven freshmen. The good news for the Bison is that all but one of those sophomores competed last season, and of the core of seven runners who competed at the highly important Mid-Atlantic and ECAC races, four were freshmen that will be returning to the team. Cole, Gow, Halloran, and Tutmaher were the freshmen last year who will make up this year's core, along with junior Pfeifer, who also competed in those two races.
Bucknell's foursome of seniors to suit up for the final time this season include Malcolm, Cecily Cairns, Cindy Carlson, and Stephanie Keller.
Because of injuries, Carlson did not compete last year, and Cairns raced once, in the Penn State Spiked Shoe event. Keller raced four times with a high overall finish of 47th in the Gulden Invitational and a high team finish of sixth at the Lafayette meet.
