Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Patriot League Championships
Sacks Named Rookie of the Meet, Arent Sets School Record as Bucknell Men's Track & Field Takes Third at Patriot League Championships
2/20/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Feb. 20, 2011
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A day after helping the 4x800 relay to a victory, Bucknell's Chris Sacks (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) won the 1,000-meter run and was named the Rookie of the Meet as the Bison finished third at the Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championships at Navy's Wesley A. Brown Field House on Sunday. Sacks was one of seven Bison to cop First Team All-Patriot League honors, as was Robert Arent (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) who broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles.
After finding itself in second place at the end of day two of the championships, Bucknell dropped to third with 151 points on Sunday. The Bison trailed Navy and Army, who went into the 4x400 tied. The Midshipmen won the final event and came away with the team title with 171 points. Army finished with 165 points. Bucknell, Navy and Army had a considerable lead over the remaining opponents. Lehigh was fourth with 46.5, while no other team managed 30 points on the weekend.
Sacks became the third Bucknellian in program history to be named the Patriot League's leading freshman at the indoor championship meet. Although he follows Justin Hicks (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill School), who earned the honor last season, and Kyle Anthony in 2007, Sacks is the only Bison freshman in history to win two Patriot League titles in his first indoor championship meet.
Sacks got off to a great start with his win as part of the 4x800 relay on Saturday. He then continued that streak today with a commanding win in the 1,000 meters. The victory came in a time of 2 minutes, 25.32 seconds, a full two seconds faster than Army's Alexis Torre-Santiago. Sacks' mark also ranks sixth all-time at Bucknell.
A member of the distance medley relay, Sacks helped the team to a fourth-place showing in 10:05.92. The standout rookie anchored the relay that also included Dustin Horning (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area), Dennis Logan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and Evan Novakowski (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury).
As impressive as Sacks' weekend was, Arent had an equally large impact on program history. The junior, who ran a then-career-best 8.13 seconds in the 60-meter hurdle prelims yesterday, exploded for a time of 8.07 in the finals, setting a new Bucknell record. It is Arent's first school record indoors, but the junior also holds best outdoor 400-meter mark.
Arent's performance in the 60-meter hurdles earned him second place, but he managed to top that in the 400 meters. His time of 48.90 seconds earned him the gold medal for the second consecutive year. Including the outdoor championship meet, Arent has won three straight Patriot League titles at that distance.
Arent added one more all-league citation to his resume in the final event of the meet, helping the 4x400 relay to a second-place showing. He was joined by Jordan Donaldson (Saxton, Pa./Tussey Mountain), John Picardo (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton Central) and Jacob Eaton Hall (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira Free Academy) in posting the fifth-fastest time in program history, 3:17.73.
Joining Arent and Sacks on the All-Patriot League First Team was Tom Barr (Ambler, Pa./La Salle College HS), who won the shot put. The junior recorded the best mark of his career, throwing 52 feet, 11 inches. The distance is the second-best all-time at Bucknell and made him just the third Bison to ever clear 52 feet. Close behind Barr was teammate Zachary Shapiro (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional), who was third (51-2 ¾).
No Bison earned all-league citations in more events than Arent and Isaih Bell (Stone Mountain, Ga./Clarkston). Bell was a second-team honoree in the 60- and 200-meter dashes as well as the long jump. His mark of 23-3 ¼ put him in second in yesterday's long jump competition. On Sunday, Bell posted a time of 6.98 in the 60 meters for second place. He narrowly missed the first title of his career in the 200 meters as his time of 22.09 was just three-hundredths of a second out of first place.
Donaldson and Picardo finished back-to-back in the 500 meters. Donaldson earned points with a third-place showing (1:05.46), as did Picardo who was fourth (1:05.49). Novakowski was fourth in the 1,000 meters with a season-best 2:28.12.
Bucknell packed in tight in the pole vault. Drew Fitzgerald (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) tied for fourth and Scott Weismiller (Mahwah, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) was sixth, both clearing 15-3. The height, which ranks ninth all-time at Bucknell, tied their career bests. Daniel Markwalter finished just outside of the scoring with a seventh-place performance (14-9).
Bucknell will be back in action at the IC4A Championships in Boston March 5-6.
Final Men's Team Standings
1. Navy - 171
2. Army - 165
3. Bucknell - 151
4. Lehigh - 46.5
5. American - 29.5
6. Lafayette - 29
7. Colgate - 20
8. Holy Cross - 8
