Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Cross Country Splits Squads for Penn State, Princeton, Gettysburg Invites
10/13/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 13, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell cross country will be spread across the area this weekend, as the Bison will split squads to compete in three different meets. First up is the women's team, who will make the short trip to University Park, Pa., for the Penn State National Invitational on Friday for an 11 a.m. race. Saturday takes the men's team to the Princeton Invitational at 11:15 a.m., while those members of the women's team who did not already compete will race at the Gettysburg Invitational at 11 a.m.
Despite the close proximity for all three meets, Bucknell has limited experience at all of them. The Bison have competed several times at Penn State but only on three occasions for the National Invitational. The last time they headed to University Park, in 2009, the Bison were stopped by snow. Thanks to power outages and downed trees on the course, the meet was moved to Lock Haven. That makes Bucknell's last true Penn State National Invite appearance 2005 when it was 11th out of 34 teams.
The women's six-kilometer race is set for an 11 a.m. start at the Blue/White Golf Courses. Joining the Bison will be a field of nearly 30 other teams, including nationally ranked West Virginia (No. 19), Penn State (No. 20) and Duke (No. 26), as well as Patriot League foes Colgate and Lehigh.
The men have competed at the Princeton Invitational just one other time in program history. In 2008, the Bison were seventh in a 13-team field. Andrew Huebner was the lone Bucknellian to claim a top-25 finish, and Dave Brown (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) is the only current Bison who competed there three years ago. As a freshman, Brown was 12th on the team and 103rd overall.
The men's 8K race is set for an 11:15 a.m. start at the West Windsor Fields.
The women will be making their first appearance at the Gettysburg Invitational on Saturday, which will give those runners down the depth chart an extra racing opportunity. The Bison had a similar chance last weekend when they competed at the Saint Francis (Pa.) Father Bede Invitational. Bucknell swept the individual and team titles and nearly came away with a sweep of the Patriot League weekly awards as a result.
Robert Yamnicky (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) was the men's champion at Loretto, Pa., and the league's Runner of the Week for the first time in his career. Also on the men's side, Michael McGowan (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion), who was eighth overall, was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. The women's Rookie of the Week honors went to Betsy Edinger (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich), who won in just her second intercollegiate race, besting the rest of the field by a full 20 seconds.
The busy weekend sends Bucknell into the final stretch of the season. Up next is the Patriot League Championships, hosted by Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., on Oct. 29.
