Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Two Bison Women Score in Patriot League Pentathlon to Close Meet's First Day
2/20/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Feb. 20, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's indoor track team stands in a second place tie after just one of the twenty events to be contested at the Patriot League Championships held at Bucknell's Gerhard Fieldhouse. A pair of sophomores, Megan Frederick and Danielle Todman, finished third and fifth, respectively, earning eight points for the Bison. The men's heptathlon contested four events on Friday, as Mike Mellas stands in fourth place with Saturday morning's three competitions to come.
The 60-meter dash opened the competition. Nina Reinhardt, ended up finishing eighth at the completion of the pentathlon, was the highest Bucknell finisher, in fifth place. While Reinhardt's 9.55-second finish led the Bison, Todman finished just behind in sixth in 9.59 seconds, and Frederick took 10th in 10.17. Navy's Danielle Still won the event in 8.78 seconds but would finish the pentathlon in ninth place. The high jump followed, but all three Bison managed just a tie for eighth with leaps of 4'8 ?". K.T. Hesler of Lehigh won with a height of 5'4 ?" and went on to place fourth in the pentathlon.
But the Bison's fortune began to turn for the better in the shot put. Bucknell took three out of the top four tosses, with Frederick finishing first at 41'7 ?". Navy's Still took second at 38'7 ?", with Todman right behind at 38'1" and Reinhardt in fourth at 33' ?". Bucknell claimed the long jump as well, with Reinhardt's leap of 16'4". Frederick took fifth, at 15'4 ?", and Todman eighth at 14'9". Frederick had her third top-five finish of the day in the 800 meter race, finishing in 2:30.30, with Todman in fourth at 2:33.72. Reinhardt, though, managed just a twelfth-place finish in 2:51.61, marking only the first time in the 15 competitions that a Bison finished outside the top 10 of the 13 competitors. Hesler won the race in 2:29.10.
Finishing first overall was Lehigh's Khayla Lowe, who did not win any of the five events but managed three top-three finishes and 3,247 points. Jennifer White, who finished no lower than sixth all afternoon, took second on behalf of Lafayette with 3,179 points, while Frederick was third with 3,098, Hesler fourth with 3,078, Todman fifth with 3,045 points, and Colgate's Nolana Quince sixth with 3,008 points. Lehigh leads the team scoring with 14 points, while Lafayette and Bucknell are tied for second with eight, and Colgate earned one. Army, Navy, and Holy Cross were unable to earn points via the pentathlon, and American had no entrants.
The first four events of the men's heptathlon were also competed Friday. In the 60-meter dash, Bucknell's Mike Mellas finished third in 7.36 seconds behing Navy's David Hunt (7.12) and Lehigh's Craig Percopo (7.32), while Kyle McLaughlin took a tie for seventh in 7.65 seconds. Mellas then won the long jump with a leap of 21'6 ?", while McLaughlin flew 19'10 ?". In the shot put, Mellas took fourth with a heave of 35'7 ?", while McLaughlin finished ninth and threw 27'2 ?". Percopo won the event, throwing 43'8". Mellas ended the day by tying for fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5'9 ?", while McLaughlin jumped 5'6 ?", good for sixth. Army's Rodney Manzo won by jumping 6'9". Mellas has a fourth-place 2,603 points heading into the last three events, while McLaughlin stands eighth with 2,193. Manzo leads with 2,844, while Navy's Hunt is second with 2,395 and Lehigh's Vaclav Malek is third with 2,696 points. The heptathlon resumes at 8:45 Saturday morning.
