Bucknell Track & Field Prepares for Colonial Relays

April 1, 2010

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell track and field will try to take its success from last weekend and run with it as it travels to the William & Mary Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va. Both Bison squads earned top-five team finishes at the two-day meet a year ago. They will try to build on that as the two-day meet at Zable Stadium starts at 9 a.m. on Friday and continues at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

The 45th Annual Colonial Relays will feature one of the biggest fields the Bison will see this year. A total of 78 teams and more than 1500 athletes are expected to compete. The field also looks to be highly competitive as 45 All-Americans, two Olympians and four former U.S. national champions are entered in the meet.

MEN'S NOTEBOOK

Bucknell won the Maryland Invitational last Saturday, defeating the second-place Terrapins by 57.5 points. Helping to that total were a pair of individual winners in Drew Fitzgerald (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) and the 4x100 relay team. Fitzgerald was the victor in the high jump, while Gregory Baxter (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley), Justin Hicks (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill School), Andrew Yehl (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) and Isiah Bell (Stone Mountain, Ga./Clarkston) took gold in the relay. The Bison also sent a small contingent to the unscored Jim Taylor Invitational at Susquehanna.
Although it had only two first-place finishes, Bucknell had plenty of other strong performances to cheer about. The Bison recorded 17 top-five finishes at Maryland, and seven of 11 entries at Susquehanna finished among the top five in their respective events.
Just one weekend into the season and six Bison have already punched their tickets to the IC4A Championships in Princeton, N.J., in May. Among those are Robert Arent (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) in the 400 hurdles, Bell in the 100-meter dash, Yehl in the 110 high hurdles, Jonathan Lockhart (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) in the shot put, and Ted Heitzman (Elysburg, Pa./Southern Columbia) and Steven Pierce (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) in the javelin.
Five Bison also have already added their name to or improved their position on the Bucknell top-10 lists. Arent and Heitzman put up career-best marks, maintaining their positions in the program records. Arent stayed at fourth all-time in the 400 hurdles (53.17 second), while Heitzman remained steady at eighth in the javelin (205 feet, 10 inches). Bell (ninth, 100 meters) and Lockhart (t-fourth, shot put) moved on the lists for the first time, and Dan Mularz (Englishtown, N.J./Freehold Township) improved from eighth to sixth in the 400 hurdles.
The Bucknell men's team finished third overall at the 2009 Colonial Relays. Nicholas Hruch (Sykesville, Md./Liberty) won the high jump to lead a group of seven top-three finishes. Fitzgerald also had a strong day in the jumps, taking third in both the high jump and the pole vault.

WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK

The Bucknell women also split their time between the Maryland and Jim Taylor invitationals last weekend. The Bison were second in the team standings in College Park, Md., after getting strong performances from Tayler Siegrist (Madison, N.J./Madison) and Stephanie Fulmer (Pottstown, Pa./St. Pius X). Siegrist won the javelin, while Fulmer was the third finisher overall but the first collegiate runner to cross the line in the 3000 meters. Stephanie Grosskurth (Huntington Station, N.Y./Half Hallow Hills East) also brought home a victory in the 3000 meter steeplechase at Susquehanna.
The Bison swept the top four places in the javelin, helping Bucknell to 15 top-five individual finishes overall at Maryland. Just behind Siegrist's title-winning throw were Laura Rycek (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area), Kat Folger (Groton, Mass./Bishop Guertin) and Sarah Trahan (Sandown, N.H./Timberlane Regional). Bucknell also took two of the top five spots in the discus and triple jump.
Siegrist's and Rycek's performance in the javelin made them two of the first Bison to qualify for May's ECAC Championships. Joining them in the shot put with a fourth-place performance last Saturday is Chelsey Musante (Shelton, Conn./Shelton).
With all the weekend success that came Bucknell's way, it was little surprise that the awards continue to flow in on Tuesday. The Bison swept the Patriot League weekly awards as Siegrist (Rookie of the Week), Rycek (Field Athlete of the Week) and Fulmer (Track Athlete of the Week) were recognized for their individual performances.
Three Bison broke onto the program top-10 lists and a fourth held onto her standing after the Maryland Invitational. Siegrist and Folger are now third and fourth, respectively, in the javelin and Rebecca Misko (Morristown, N.J./Madison) is 10th in the discus. Continuing the run in the throws events was Musante whose personal best of 44-9 ¾ kept her fourth all-time in the shot put.
Six current Bison throwers hold eight program top-10 marks in the shot put, hammer throw, discus and javelin. Joining Siegrist, Folger, Musante and Misko are Sarah Bella (Mendham, N.J./West Morris Mendham) in the shot put (first) and discus (eighth) and Rycek in the javelin (second).
Bucknell was fifth overall at last year's Colonial Relays. Gillian Nordquist was the lone Bucknellian to claim a win as the former Bison finished first in the 10,000 meters. Alexa Griffiths (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua) was second in the distance event, while Musante was third in both the discus and hammer. The shuttle hurdle relay also finished runner-up.

LOOKING AHEAD
Bucknell will host the Bison Outdoor Classic, the first of its two regular-season home meets, April 9-10 at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Competition on Friday begins at 3 p.m., while Saturday's action kicks off at 9:30 a.m.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Track & Field Prepares for Colonial Relays

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