Bucknell University Athletics
Ten Track and Field Athletes to Represent Bucknell at NCAA East Regional Championships
5/22/2007 8:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
May 22, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - On Friday, May 25, the Bucknell men's and women's track and field teams will take part in the opening day competition at the two-day 2007 NCAA East Regional Championships on the Percy Beard Track in James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., on the campus of the University of Florida. The men's team qualified four athletes for the championships, while the women have six set to compete.
On the track, the men will be led by senior Matthew Forys (Howell, N.J./Howell), who qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships when he ran a time of 8 minutes, 50.10 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Sam Howell Memorial Invitational at Princeton. That mark is the second-best time in school history. He has also qualified for the 5,000 and the 10,000.
Seniors Tyler Hoffman (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) and Joshua Kaehler (Hanover, Pa./South Western), along with junior David Mante (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) will look to lead the Bison in the field events.
Hoffman, two-time NCAA East Regional qualifier, secured a spot in the hammer at the Patriot League Championships with a personal best mark of 206 feet, 2 inches (62.84m), which won him the event. Hoffman placed 25th at last season's NCAA East Regional.
Kaehler qualified for this weekend's event by defending his javelin title at the Patriot League Championships with a new school and meet record of 230-6 (70.27m). Last year, the Hanover, Pa., native, posted a 16th-place showing in the event at the NCAA East Regional.
Mante earned his spot in the NCAA East Regional Championships after winning his first Patriot League outdoor pole vault title clearing a height of 16-0 ¾ (4.90m). He is also the Patriot League indoor pole vault champion.
Sophomore Kevin Macleod (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) and freshman Steven Pierce (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships in the 400 hurdles and the javelin, respectively. However, due to injury, the pair will be unable to compete.
On the women's side, senior Christa Sawko (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) and junior Christine Totten (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) will lead the Bison on the track.
Sawko qualified for the 800 at the Tiger Track Classic with a time of 2:09.35. She also qualified for the 1,500 with a time of 4:32.85. Sawko, a two-time NCAA East Regional qualifier, took first place at the Patriot League Championships in both events while also running the anchor leg on the gold medal 4x800 relay team.
Totten automatically qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships by winning the 3,000 steeplechase at the Patriot League Championships with a personal-best time of 11:05.17.
Leading the way for Bucknell in the field will be seniors Melanie Buczko (Butler, Pa./Butler Area) and Marjorie Grap (Van Etten, N.Y./Spencer-Van Etten), along with junior Beverly Rogers (Finleyville, Pa./Ringgold) and freshman Amy Mantush (Drums, Pa./Drums).
Buczko will make her fourth appearance in the NCAA East Regional Championships in the pole vault. She cleared a height of 12-7 ½ (3.85m) at the Bucknell Team Challenge, which won her the event and broke the Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium record. In her previous outings at the championships, the Butler, Pa., native has finished fourth, seventh and 12th, respectively.
For the second straight year, Grap qualified for the NCAA East Regional Championships in the hammer and discus. Grap's best throw of her career in the hammer came last weekend at the IC4A Championships where she posted a mark of 192-0 (58.52m), which was good for second. She automatically qualified for the discus after her first-place performance at the Patriot League Championships.
Rogers recorded a mark of 154-3 (47.02m) in the javelin at the Patriot League Championships, which was good for second and qualified her for the championships. Her distance was also a new school record.
Mantush, secured her spot by placing first in the high jump at the Patriot League Championships. The Drums, Pa., native, who is also the Patriot League indoor high jump champion, hold both the indoor and outdoor records at Bucknell.
Athletes who finish in the top five in their respective events this weekend will automatically earn a spot in the 2007 NCAA Championships, which will run thru June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. However, an athlete can still qualify for the championships as an at-large bid. For more information on the 2007 NCAA East Regional Championships, please click here
