Bucknell University Athletics
From The AD's Desk
4/1/2010 8:00:00 AM | General
April 1, 2010
Greetings Bison Fans!
The first official weekend of spring brought sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s to Lewisburg, and the warm weather felt wonderful after such a frosty winter. The students are now back on campus following Spring Break, and that means we have now hit the home stretch for the 2009-10 academic year. All of our spring programs are now well underway, and several of them are already off to very strong starts. However, before I get into the spring teams, please let me reflect on some happenings from the winter campaign.
First and foremost, congratulations to coach Dan Wirnsberger and the Bison wrestling team, in particular our two 2010 All-Americans: Andy Rendos and Kevin LeValley!
For the first time since the rebirth of the Bucknell wrestling program, we had a senior class to celebrate. Rendos, David Marble and Shane Riccio were honored before the final dual match of the season against American. Those three helped the team defeat the Eagles, giving us a program-record 12 wins this season. All three seniors, along with LeValley, qualified for the NCAA Championships while helping the Bison to a fourth-place finish at EIWAs, and Rendos won the 165-pound weight class to become Bucknell's first-ever EIWA champion. At the NCAA tourney in Omaha, Rendos placed sixth and LeValley seventh, giving Bucknell two All-Americans in the same year for the first time in program history. Rendos was also an All-American in 2009, and he became just the second two-time All-American in Bison annals.
Amazing work by Coach Wirnsberger in not only rebuilding the Bison wrestling program so quickly, but in taking it to new heights not before seen. When he arrived here, Coach Wirnsberger took on the ultimate rebuilding job. He spent his first year as head wrestling coach at Bucknell without any student-athletes to coach. Through great patience and determination, he has quickly made Bison Wrestling into a nationally prominent program once again.
This senior class, each of them multi-time NCAA qualifiers, will long be remembered for putting the program back on the map. We are all so proud of each of them, and in particular so is Bill Graham '62, the man largely responsible for bringing wrestling back to Bucknell. Every Bison fan who has taken delight in the accomplishments of the wrestling team over the past four years should remember that without Mr. Graham's passion and generosity, we likely would not be in the position we are in today.
Wrestling was not the only sport to enjoy a terrific winter season. The Bison women's track and field program continues to dominate. After the cross country team won the Patriot League title in the fall, the indoor track and field squad captured its eighth PL title in the last nine years and 13th overall on Feb. 21 at West Point. Senior Amy Mantush won the high jump and the pentathlon and was named Field Athlete of the Meet, and the Bison ran away from second-place Navy by 72 points.
The men's indoor track and field team came agonizingly close to a Patriot League title. The Bison finished in second place, just six points behind Army in one of the closest meets in league history. Led by senior Kyle Anthony's third indoor triple jump title, a double win from sophomore Robert Arent in the 400 meters and 4x400 relay and a PL Rookie of the Meet performance by Justin Hicks, the Bison turned in a strong, well-balanced performance, and they should again be a strong challenger at the outdoor championships next month.
The Bucknell swimming and diving teams turned in excellent performances at the Patriot League Championships at Navy in February. Both teams finished in second place behind Navy. Coach Dan Schinnerer was named Men's Coach of the Year after leading his team to a runner-up finish for the third year in a row. Navy also ran away with the women's meet, but the Bison outswam Colgate's scholarship program and edged the Raiders by 11 points for second place. Congrats to Courtney Warren and Daniel Fletcher, who swept the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards for swimming and diving.
After the Patriot League meet, Warren repeated as the Eastern champion in the 100-yard backstroke, and Eric Sokolosky won the Eastern title in the 100 freestyle.
While the men's basketball season came to an abrupt and disappointing end with a home loss to Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament, it was certainly a year of progress for the Bison team. After enduring some early season struggles, Dave Paulsen's team got hot during Patriot League play, winning eight of their last 10 games. The team earned the No. 2 seed for the Patriot League Tournament but could not hold off the preseason favorite Holy Cross in a very close quarterfinal game.
The Bison finished with 14 wins, doubling their total from the previous season. Sophomore Bryan Cohen was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year, and for the first time in league history, three players from the same team made the All-Rookie Team (Bucknell's Mike Muscala, Bryson Johnson and Joe Willman). The future undoubtedly looks bright, and Coach Paulsen's team will get a little extra work in late May/early June when it travels to Italy for a four-game, 10-day tour.
The women's basketball season certainly did not go as planned, but the team graduates only one senior, and coach Kathy Fedorjaka and her staff are already working hard to get things turned around next year.
Thanks to the women's track championship and the other runner-up finishes, we have increased our lead to eight points over second-place Lehigh in the Patriot League Presidents' Cup standings. We are going for our 16th Presidents' Cup in the 20-year history of the league, and we also currently lead in the Men's and Women's Cup standings. There are still plenty of points to be earned, but we seem to be in a reasonably good position heading into the spring season.
This past weekend marked the start of spring football, and that has given our new head coach Joe Susan and his staff a chance to get on the football field with their team for the first time. I am extremely excited to welcome Coach Susan back at Bucknell, and I am pleased to say that the alumni feedback has been uniformly positive. Based on the fact that almost 1,000 of you watched the introductory press conference live on Bison Vision, and more than 1,000 more have watched the archived version since then, it definitely appears that there is renewed interest and excitement in Bison Football.
Coach Susan has assembled an extremely talented staff whose passion for football was on display within the opening minutes of the first spring practice. Like you, I can't wait to see what the future brings for Bison Football!
The spring season is still in its infancy, but already there have been some great moments. The baseball team recently went 5-2 on its annual trip to Florida, including wins over Big Ten programs Illinois and Northwestern, and Gene Depew's hard-hitting club is averaging over seven runs per game so far and has a .310 team batting average. The softball team has also hit the ball well so far. The team is off to an 8-8 start after a Spring Break trip to California.
Last week the baseball team made its debut on the new FieldTurf playing surface at Depew Field (PHOTO GALLERY). As you might recall, the FieldTurf was installed in the late fall, literally hours before the first snowfall of the year blanketed the area. We also have a new outfield fence in place, and after this season we will replace the existing dugouts with new in-ground dugouts, and a new entry plaza will be constructed to welcome visitors to the baseball and softball venues.
Fundraising continues for the final phase of the baseball/softball improvement project, the construction of new spectator seating areas. We have made progress in that area, but there is still plenty of work to be done. When completed, the Bison baseball and softball programs will have much-deserved, first-class facilities to call home.
It has been an interesting start for the Bison men's lacrosse team. The squad has been nationally ranked almost all year and is now 5-4 on the season. All four losses have come by one goal, three of them against top-20 opponents (Duke and Navy in overtime and unbeaten Lafayette in a wild 16-15 game). The team has been hit hard by injuries so far, but Frank Fedorjaka's team still has high hopes for the season, and if they can get some healthy bodies back soon it could be a dangerous team in the postseason.
The women's water polo team is already 12-7 after and 4-0 in conference play. The women's golf team has produced some good early season scores, and the men's golf team is the preseason favorite to repeat as Patriot League champions. Women's rowing is just getting started as it goes in search of its fifth straight league crown, and the women's tennis team is looking to get over the hump after falling to Army in the Patriot League championship match last spring.
Much like the baseball/softball facility improvements, the Bison golf programs are working hard to construct a new indoor instructional center. The golf center has been included in the campus master plan as a “target of opportunity,” or a project that depends on donor support. We are fortunate that recently an alumnus has come forward to provide funding to allow Bucknell to initiate this project. This initial funding is being used for the early planning and design of the project. However, additional donor support will be needed to complete the project. We have the go-ahead from East Buffalo Township to build the facility within the next five years, once the funding is in place. The golf center would be constructed adjacent to the current practice range on Smoketown Road, near the main entrance to the Bucknell Golf Club.
Another donor-supported facility improvement project that is now complete is a new javelin runway for the track and field teams, located just outside Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The new javelin area will be put to the test for the first time in a meet when Bucknell hosts the Bison Outdoor Classic Apr. 9-10, and it will be formally dedicated during the Patriot League Outdoor Championships, which will be contested here at Bucknell on Apr. 30 and May 1.
If you are a Bison Club member, you may have already received a call from one of our student-athletes. Our annual Bucknell Student-Athlete Call-athon has been very popular among Bison supporters through the years.
The three-month Call-athon began in February and will continue on into April, with student-athletes devoting two hours per day, three days per week. If you have not yet received your call from a Bison student-athlete, I encourage you to engage her/him in conversation when the call does come. After watching some of them in action, I can tell you that they enjoy chatting with the alumni just as much as you take pleasure in hearing from them.
All of the wonderful things that are happening in Bison Athletics are a direct result of our generous Bison Club supporters. I remind you that a large portion of every Bucknell varsity athletics program's operating budget comes directly from fundraised dollars.
In many ways, relying on fundraised dollars to outfit many of our programs' basic needs constitutes a significant challenge. But on the other hand, it does allow me to look a donor in the eye and, without hesitation, assure that individual that his/her gift will directly impact our Bison student-athletes. I can tell you first-hand that many of our loyal supporters take great pride and pleasure in that promise.
So if you have not yet made your contribution to the Bison Club, please call Todd Newcomb, Associate Director of Athletics/Director of the Bison Club at 570-577-1771, or donate online at BucknellBison.com.
Thank you so much for your continued support of Bison Athletics, and as always … GO BISON!!!!
Respectfully,
John P. Hardt
Director of Athletics & Recreation
Bucknell University
Previous installments of "From the AD's Desk"
-- August 15, 2005
-- September 26, 2005
-- December 1, 2005
-- April 6, 2006
-- August 3, 2006
-- August 28, 2006
-- October 22, 2006
-- March 26, 2007
-- May 25, 2007
-- August 8, 2007
-- November 20, 2007
-- March 30, 2008
-- June 10, 2008
-- June 12, 2008
-- Aug. 18, 2008
-- Dec. 19, 2008
-- Apr. 3, 2009
-- June 18, 2009
-- Aug. 21, 2009
-- December 21, 2009
