Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Cross Country Starts Season at Colgate Invite
9/4/2009 8:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 4, 2009
2009 Women's Cross Country Preview
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's cross country team begins its 2009 season at the Colgate Harry Lang Invitational at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5 in Hamilton, N.Y. The Bison are gunning to improve on a disappointing end to last season and cause some upsets after being voted fifth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll recently.
Bucknell closed the 2008 season just shy of its goal of a top-10 team finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, but a similar outcome in 2009 is unlikely. The Bison's core unit of runners returns for the new season with better preparation and a strong class of newcomers, hoping to erase the memory of taking 11th at the regional meet.
“We return a lot of valuable letterwinners from last year,” said head coach Kevin Donner, who is heading into his ninth season with the Bison. “I would say last year was a relatively average year. We weren't happy with finishing fifth in the Patriot League. We were hoping for a top 10 at the NCAA Regional Championships, and we were 11th. That was probably our best race of the year, but we were hoping for a little more. This year our guys really prepared well over the summer and put in an awful lot of mileage. A number of our top guys are running close to 100 miles a week, so as far as offseason preparation, I've never had a team quite as prepared as this 2009 cross country team.”
Three of the Bison's Patriot League scorers will be back on the course this year in Andrew Huebner (Hampton Falls, N.H./The Governor's Academy), Conor McNamara (Baldwin, N.Y./Chaminade) and Baron Willeford (New Oreleans, La./Columbia Prep (N.Y.)). Huebner, who placed second on the team and 17th overall at the championship meet, fell off a bit at the end of the 2008 season but bounced back in the spring to take the Patriot League steeplechase title and qualify for the NCAA regional meet in the event. Donner expects that later success to pay off for the senior co-captain this fall.
“He was our MVP last year. He was our number-one guy for most of our meets,” said Donner. “He ran well at the (NCAA Regional track) meet finishing 10th overall, and I believe that's going to carry over into this cross country season where he's going to prove to be a very valuable Patriot League runner, as well as a runner who can contend for a Mid-Atlantic Regional spot.”
McNamara crossed the line at the Patriot League Championships last year ahead of any other Bison, placing 15th overall. The finish should not have been a surprise, as the senior had kept himself in the mix throughout the season despite originally focusing on middle distance races on the track earlier in his career. Like McNamara, Willeford finished the season on a high note, placing among the team's top three runners, not only at the Patriot League Championships, but the NCAA Regional meet as well.
Bucknell will also rely on its other senior captain, Kevin McGoldrick (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), who has shown major improvement throughout his career and who is expected to score for the Bison on a consistent basis. Donner also sees sophomore Dave Brown (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) and junior Joshua Clark (Vincentown, N.J./Seneca) as providing quality races for Bucknell in 2009. Some of the newest runners to sport the Orange & Blue should contribute early, as freshmen such as D.J. Krystek (Pitcairn, Pa./Gateway Senior), Matt Brooker (Spring Mills, Pa./Penn's Valley), Dustin Horning (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) and Robert Yamnicky (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) bring five top-five finishes at their respective cross country and track state championships between them.
“We did have a fantastic recruiting year on the men's side, probably one of the best recruiting years ever had. A few of these guys could possibly contend for some varsity spots, which is tough on the men's side because of the change in distance,” said Donner. “Just those four right there are pretty good.”
Even with a solid base of veterans bolstered by an influx of youth, belief in their abilities will be an important ingredient to the Bison's success.
“The key will be our men simply believing in themselves as athletes and sticking together in races. When these races get tough at about the three- and four-mile mark, they have to trust in their training, trust in their preparation and be positive through that part to get through the races,” said Donner.
Bucknell's race at the Colgate Invitational is a preview of the Patriot League Championship course later in the season. In addition to their home invite, the Raiders will also host the league's final race on Oct. 31. The Bison's calendar also includes the annual Paul Short Memorial Invitational, hosted by Lehigh, on Oct. 2 and the Penn State National Invitational in University Park, Pa., on Oct. 16.
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