Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Bucknell Men Finish Third at Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships
2/22/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Feb. 22, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - While the Bucknell women enjoyed the largest margin of victory ever for a Patriot League Women's Indoor Championship, the Bucknell men finished third behind Navy and Army in the closest men's league meet in the 14 competitions held since 1991. Navy finished with 177 ? points and Army with 175 ? ahead of Bucknell's 68 ?. Army had claimed every title since it joined the meet in 1994 until today.
Noel Powell had two second-place finishes in the shorter distance events, taking second in the 200-meter dash as well as the 400-meter dash. Powell's 22.19 in the shorter race was just short of Navy's Eric Porter, who finished in 21.91 seconds and shared the Men's Track Athlete of the Meet award with American's Matt Seymour. Powell finished second to Porter in the 400 as well, in 49.83 seconds to Porter's Patriot League Championship meet record 48.48 finish. It was one of several Navy performances that rewrote league meet lists, as Navy's 4x400 meter relay team won in 3:17.11, Navy's 4x800 meter relay team won in 7:33.44, and Navy's Adesing Ekundayo won the inaugural 60-meter hurdle race in 8.09 seconds. Navy's Stephen Cooksey was named the Men's Coach of the Year for his team's win. Lehigh's George Evans set the 60-meter dash record in its first competition with a preliminary finish of 6.83 seconds.
Bucknell had two scorers in the 800 meter race, as Aaron Hanlon came in second in 1:54.19 and Kevin Walsh came in fifth in 1:55.36. Greg Costello finished third behind Seymour and Lehigh's Victor Vientos in 8:27.86, and Mike Mellas picked up a point for Bucknell in the triple jump with a sixth-place leap of 44'4 ?". Jeff Weaver of Army won the event a day after setting the Patriot League Championship meet record with a long jump of 24'9". Weaver was the co-Men's Field Athlete of the Meet with teammate Rodney Manzo, who won the inaugural men's heptathlon with 4,959 points on Saturday.
"Our men ran an admirable meet. All of our guys performed to their highest levels. I'm proud of our third-place finish," said Bucknell Head Coach Kevin Donner.
Bucknell's relay teams picked up two fourth-place finishes, as the distance medley relay team finished in 10:24.17, and the 4x400 team finished in 3:25.54. The meet was tied between Army and Navy going into the 4x400 race at 167 ? points each. Navy won the race by 3.17 seconds over Army to take home the trophy. Behind the Midshipmen, Cadets and Bison were American with 61 points, Lehigh with 59 ?, Lafayette with 54, Colgate with 20, and Holy Cross with three.
