Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Cross Country Kicks Off 2008 Campaign Friday
8/27/2008 8:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Aug. 27, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Hardly satisfied with a fourth-place finish at the 2007 Patriot League Championship, the Bison men's cross country team got right back to work during the summer, and coach Kevin Donner was extremely pleased with the team's offseason training.
"After finishing third in 2006, we were a little disappointed last season, however this is a real focused group of guys coming back in 2008," Donner said. "Most of them spent the summer in Lewisburg in order to train together, and that summer training is going to be very critical coming into the fall."
The Bison open their season this Friday, Aug. 29, hosting Bloomsburg, Saint Francis (Pa.) and Susquehanna in the annual Bison Open. At last year's open, four returning members of the Bucknell squad placed in the top 10: Andrew Huebner, Clinton Orloski, Conor McNamara and Stephen Dorsey.
Bucknell will have to replace last year's No. 1 man, All-Patriot Leaguer Wallace Campbell, but the Bison do welcome back two talented veterans in co-captains Orloski and Huebner. Orloski placed 13th at last year's conference championship to earn Second Team All-Patriot League accolades, and he was Bucknell's No. 2 runner for most of the season, including at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals.
Huebner finished third on the team and 22nd overall at the 2007 Patriot League meet, and like Orloski, he is coming off an outstanding track and field season.
"Our two captains will be critical to our success," Donner predicted. "We are counting on them to be our team leaders. Now we need to have three or four or five others step up and run with them. If we can get that, then we have a shot to contend for the Patriot League championship."
A number of runners are working to become consistent scorers for the Bison, chief among them junior McNamara, junior Baron Willeford, senior Donald Sanner, senior Joe Foley and sophomore Dorsey.
Dorsey won a Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor last season and finished 36th at the PL Championship. Foley was the team's top runner at the IC4A Championship, one spot ahead of McNamara.
Last season American held off Navy by a single point to win the Patriot League title, and Donner sees the league race as wide open in 2008.
"There was a lot of graduation among the top teams," Donner noted. "I think five teams have a real opportunity to win it this year."
The team follows the Bison Open with a trip to the Detroit Invitational a week later. The team will compete every other week the rest of the way, starting Sept. 20 at the Buffalo Stampede in Buffalo, N.Y., then at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh on Oct. 3 and the Princeton Invitational on Oct. 18.
Two of those three meets will give the Bison an advance look a championship courses for later in the season. Lehigh will host the Patriot League Championship on Nov. 1, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship will be at Princeton on Nov. 15. Indiana State hosts the NCAA Championship on Nov. 24.
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