Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Track and Field Announces Annual Awards
5/3/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
May 3, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell track and field program announced its 2005-06 award winners, selected by the coaching staff, on Monday evening at the annual banquet, held in the Gerhard Fieldhouse on the Bucknell campus. Senior Dan Frake (Northport, N.Y./Northport) took home two awards, while seven others picked up honors as well.
Each year towards the end of the season, the Bison pass out annual awards to selected athletes from both the men's and women's teams in four different four categories, the Coaches' Award, Most Valuable Athlete, Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Athlete. The Coaches' Award is handed out to the athlete, whom the coaches feel has shown tremendous dedication to the program, while overcoming any obstacles he or she may encounter.
Frake was awarded with the Most Valuable Athlete and the Coaches' Award.
The Northport, N.Y., native made his way into the Bucknell record books during the indoor season, taking the sixth-place spot in the shot put with a mark of 50 feet, 2 inches, while also setting the seventh-furthest throw in the weight, tossing for 53-11 3/4. So far in the outdoor season, the senior captain has marked the all-time third-best throw in the hammer, 189, while also qualifying for the both the IC4A Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships.
Sharing the Coaches' Award with Frake were senior Danielle Todman (Scotch Plains, N.J./Bishop George Ahr) and junior Melanie Buczko (Butler, Pa./Butler). Todman is a multi-event athlete who in the 2006 indoor season set the fifth-fastest time in the 55-meter hurdles with a mark of 8.38 seconds, the eighth-best mark in the 55-meter dash, 7.38, and the sixth-highest score in the pentathlon, 3,267. She also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Indoor Patriot League Championships in the pentathlon. So far in the outdoor season, Todman became number five in the record books in the heptathlon (4,161).
Buczko was the winner of the pole vault at the PL Indoor Championships and broke the Championship record at a height of 12-10. Also this season, she qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championships, hit the NCAA Provisional Mark and broke the Gerhard Fieldhouse record with a leap of 13-3 1/2. In the current outdoor season, Buczko qualified for both the ECAC Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships with a leap of 12-5 1/2.
Junior Lauren Bricker (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield Area) was the female recipient of the Most Valuable Athlete honor. In the indoor PL meet, Bricker collected a gold medal as part of the 4x800-relay team, with a time of 9:04.95, gold in the 800, 2:14.72, and silver in the triple jump 37-01.25. In the outdoor season, Bricker qualified for the ECAC meet in the 3000-meter steeplechase and in 1500, with times of 10:52.97 and 4:30.14, respectively. Both times rank her second in the Orange and Blue record books.
Freshmen Kati Dempsey (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pleasant Valley) of the women's team and Kerry Boyle (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton) of the men's, were given Rookie of the Year honors.
Dempsey finished first in the high jump with a mark of 5-5, earning First Team All-Patriot League honors and second in the long jump, recording a leap of 17-8 3/4, for all-league second-team recognition at the 2006 Patriot League Indoor Championships. She also took home the Rookie of the Meet award. Dempsey sits fifth in both the all-time indoor and outdoor record books, with jumps of 5-5.
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On the men's side, Boyle set a new school record in the indoor 400-meter dash, clocking in a time of 48.32 seconds. He also was part of the school record-breaking indoor 4x400-realy team, setting a mark of 3:15.51. Boyle turned in Bucknell's all-time fourth-best time in the indoor 500, with a time of 1:04.26, while also placing sixth on the outdoor top-10 list in the 400 hurdles and fifth in the 400, with times of 55.18 and 48.55, respectively. Boyle also earned a silver medal at the indoor PL Championships, for all-league second-team honors in the 500, and qualified for the indoor IC4A Championships in the 400, the 500 and as part of the 4x400-relay team.
The Most Improved Athlete nod went to juniors Catherine Trentacoste (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) and Tyler Hoffman (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg).
After turning in three top-10 ranking performances combined in 2004 and 2005, Trentacoste etched her named all over the Bison record books in 2006. This year, she set the school's second best all-time mark in the indoor 55 hurdles, with a time of 8.26 and in the 60 hurdles, finishing in 8.97. She also was part of the distance medley relay team that turned in the fourth fastest time, 11:56.00 and as part of the 4x400-relay squad that struck PL gold with a time of 3:57.6. So far in outdoor action, the junior finished the 400 hurdles in 1:02.53, and second in the record books, while also crossing the line in 14.67 in the 100 hurdles, becoming Bucknell's fifth all-time fastest runner in the event. Her record times in the 55 hurdles and as part of the distance medley team qualified her for the ECAC Indoor Championships, while her mark in the 400 hurdles earned her a spot at the upcoming outdoor ECAC meet.
Hoffman, after quietly beginning his career with the Bison just last season, now stands as one of Bucknell's strongest throwers in program history. In the indoor season, Hoffman struck PL gold in the indoor championships in the weight throw with a heave of 59-6 3/4, earning first-team all-league honors. He qualified for the IC4A Indoor Championships in weight throw with a season-best mark of 60-3 1/4, also placing him second in the Orange and Blue records. Outdoors, he hit the NCAA Regional and IC4A Outdoor qualifying mark in the hammer throw with a toss of 182-8 and grabbed the school's fifth-best all-time spot.
Bucknell will enter its Championship portion of the season this weekend in Worcester, Mass., at the Outdoor Patriot League Championships.
