Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Indoor Track and Field Team Selected First in Preseason Poll
11/29/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Nov. 29, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa - On Wednesday, the Bucknell women's indoor track and field squad was picked first out of eight teams in the Patriot League preseason polls. The Bison (97) received 13 first-place votes. Behind Bucknell was Navy (80), who garnered two first-place votes, Army (78), Lafayette (60), Lehigh (43), Colgate (43), American (31) and Holy Cross (16). The Bucknell indoor track and field teams will be hosting the Bison Opener on Saturday, Dec. 2, in the Gerhard Fieldhouse with the field events starting at 10 a.m. and the running events beginning at 11 a.m.
With the last five Patriot League titles in indoor track and field and the last three outdoors under their belts, head coach Kevin Donner feels that the Bucknell women's track and field squad is in a good position to win its sixth straight indoor championship and its fourth straight outdoor championship. "Our goal is to have this senior class graduate not having lost a Patriot League title in indoor or outdoor track and field, and we have the talent and personnel to be able to do that," said Donner.
Senior Chessa Forer will lead the Bison in the short sprints in 2006-07. Last season, Forer scored at the Patriot League Indoor Championships with a sixth-place finish in the 55 and took fourth in the 200. Junior Lesley Emons will provide Bucknell with depth in this area of the sprinting corps. Senior Catherine Trentacoste will head up the long sprints and the hurdles for the Orange and Blue as the reigning outdoor 400 Patriot League champion and took third outdoors at the league meet in the 400 hurdles, qualifying for the ECAC Championships in both events. She was an ECAC indoor qualifier in the 55 hurdles and the 100 hurdles last year, as well.
Senior Kat Allen will look to continue her success in the 400 and 400 hurdles and was a member of Bucknell's indoor 4x400 Patriot League champion relay in 2006. Coming off a freshman campaign that saw her score in both the indoor and outdoor 400 at the Patriot League Championships, sophomore Megan Hathaway adds further experience in the sprints for the Orange and Blue along with versatile sprinter senior Sarah Vanden Broek, who scored outdoors with a fourth-place finish in the 400 at the Patriot League Championships. Two freshmen will look to contribute in the sprints as well. Local product Kalle James-Wintjen earned all-state honors in the 100 and the 200 out of Lewisburg High School and Stephanie Evans was a state qualifier in the short sprints at Central York High School in York, Pa.
In the middle distance events, which are usually a strong area for the Bison, the squad once again has many well-qualified personnel. Christa Sawko returns for her senior season after producing a stellar junior year that saw her break the school record in the indoor 1,000 and win a Patriot League title in that event. She also captured a league championship in the outdoor 800 while also breaking her own school record in that event during the season. She qualified for both the ECAC Championships and the NCAA Eastern Regional in the 800 outdoors and earned All-East honors for her fourth-place showing at ECACs. Senior Lauren Bricker, junior Offeibea Hanson-Hall, junior Victoria Gilbert and senior Mariel Fink all have numerous accolades to their credit and will provide Bucknell with a high level of expertise in middle-distance. Last year, Bricker won Patriot League Championships in the indoor 800 and in the 3,000 steeplechase outdoors. Hanson-Hall and Gilbert were both part of the winning Bison 4x800 relay that set a Patriot League record at the indoor championships. Fink will give the squad depth in the 500 through 1,000.
Seniors Leanna Nastase, Jenny Stevens and junior Erin Cranmer-Hart will headline the Bucknell distance events. Nastase was the Patriot League runner-up outdoors in the 10,000 this past spring and qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 5,000 both indoors and outdoors as well as the 10,000 outdoors. Nastase won the 2006 individual title at the Patriot League Championships, while earning a spot in the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Stevens was a medalist at the Patriot League Championships in the mile indoors and in the 5,000 outdoors, qualifying for ECACs in that event. Cranmer-Hart was an ECAC qualifier in the mile last winter and broke five minutes in the mile.
The jumps should be an area of strength for the Bison in 2006-07. Senior Ann Doty was the Patriot League triple jump champion indoors in 2006 and finished third outdoors. Junior Nicole Ayala was a medalist in the event both seasons as well. Bricker, one of the top triple jumpers in program history, took second in the event at the indoor Patriot League Championships and placed fourth outdoors and will provide the Orange and Blue with depth in the that event. The squad will look to sophomore Kati Dempsey in the high jump and long jump. She enters this season after winning an indoor Patriot League title in the high jump and scoring both indoors and outdoors at the league meet in the long jump in her first year as a member of the Bison. Freshmen Amy Mantush of Drums, Pa., Amanda Kronquist of Chino Hills, Calif., and Jennifer Pierce of Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., will look to contribute in the jumps as well, Mantush in the high jump and triple jump, Kronquist in the long jump and triple jump. Pierce is a multi-event athlete, along with senior Nina Reinhardt will look to continue her past success for Bucknell in the multi-events. Reinhardt earned second team all-league honors for her runner-up showing in the pentathlon at the Patriot League Indoor Championships and was a second team selection after taking second in the heptathlon outdoors at the Patriot League Championships. Reinhardt is also expected to contribute for the Bison in the long jump and in the hurdling events.
Melanie Buczko, who has enjoyed tremendous success in her first three years, returns for her senior season and will lead Bucknell in the pole vault. In 2006, she won two Patriot League titles, set the league record in the event at both meets, was an All-East performer both indoors and outdoors and was an NCAA provisional qualifier indoors and an NCAA Regional qualifier outdoors. The Bison will look for senior Angie Hall, who was All-East in the event two years ago, to provide points this season along with junior Ashley Curry.
Senior Marjorie Grap and junior Amanda Mockbee will lead the Bison in the throwing events. Grap earned two All-East accolades in the weight throw indoors, along with being an NCAA provisional qualifier in the event and was All-East in the hammer outdoors, along with competing in the NCAA Eastern Regional. Mockbee took third in the discus at the Patriot League Championships and qualified for the ECAC Championships in the event. She is also on the top 10 list in the weight throw.
