Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Track & Field Tunes Up for Patriot League Championships with Penn Relays, Bloomsburg Open
4/27/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
April 27, 2011
Meet Information:
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Just one week remains before the Patriot League Championships, and Bucknell track and field is using it to compete at one of the most prestigious meets in the country when its travels to Philadelphia for the Penn Relays April 28-30. Fourteen individual and four relays will make the trip to Franklin Field. The weekend also includes the Bloomsburg Maroon & Gold Open, scheduled for a noon start on Saturday.
MEN'S NOTEBOOK
- The Bison claimed first place for the third consecutive year at last weekend's Bucknell Team Challenge. With 256 points in the team standings, they doubled second-place Duquesne's score or 128.
- Robert Arent (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) and Justin Hicks (Wilmington, Del./Tower Hill School) led Bucknell for most victories at the latest meet with Arent taking first in the 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and the 4x400 relay. Hicks was a winner in the 100m and 200m dashes, as well as the 4x400. Hicks, who missed all but one meet during indoor track season, earned his first victories since winning the 200 at last year's Bloomsburg Open.
- Leonard Joseph (Whitesboro, N.Y./Clinton) and Alex Prieto (Princeton Junction, N.J./West Windsor Plainsboro South) were both cited by the Patriot League on Monday. After winning the throw, Joseph was named the league's Field Athlete of the Week. Joseph's mark of 193 feet, 1 inch ranks fifth all-time at Bucknell. Prieto was recognized as the Rookie of the Week after registering career highs in both the triple jump (46-4) and the long jump (21-0). It was the first honor of the spring for both.
- It is not surprising that both of Bucknell's weekly awards from the Patriot League came from field athletes. The Bison's field events contributed 141 points to the team score at the Bucknell Team Challenge, meaning that more than 55 percent of the scoring came away from the track. Bucknell's throwers had 73 of those points, thanks in part to individual wins in all four events - shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.
- In addition to Joseph's win in the hammer throw, Ted Heitzman (Elysburg, Pa./Southern Columbia) took gold in the javelin (228-5), Quinten Marcott (Wayland, Mich./Wayland) won the shot put (50-11 ½) and Luke Webster (Pataskala, Ohio/Newark Catholic) was tops in the discus (162-2). It was the first time this season that Marcott cleared the 50-foot mark in the shot put, while Webster went from being unranked in the discus to fourth in program history. Heitzman, Joseph and Marcott will all compete at the Penn Relays this weekend.
- Among those scheduled to compete at the Penn Relays are the shuttle hurdle, 4x100 and 4x800 relays. The 4x100 - Marlon Woods (Cincinnati, Ohio/Winton Woods), Hicks, Kamal Riley (Hyde Park, Mass./Charlestown) and Isaih Bell (Stone Mountain, Ga./Clarkston) - has twice set IC4A-qualifying marks this season, including a season-best 42.05 seconds at the Colonial Relays. Arent, Jason Brown (Plainview, Mass./Bishop Feehan), Dan Mularz (Englishtown, N.J./Freehold Township) and Andrew Powell (Charlton, Mass./St. John's) will compete in Bucknell's first shuttle hurdle race of the year. Powell, who placed second in the high jump with a season-best 6-6 ¼ last weekend, will also compete in the high jump in Philadelphia. Zachary Shapiro (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional) and Tom Barr (Ambler, Pa./La Salle College HS) will join Marcott in the shot put.
- Bucknell claimed an individual victory at last year's Penn Relays as recent graduate Andrew Huebner won the 3,000m steeplechase. His time of 9:00.79 was then a career best that ranked seventh in program history.
WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK
- The Bison won the team title at the Bucknell Team Challenge last weekend with 248 points. The victory gave them a bit of revenge over second-place Duquesne, which finished with 180 points. The Dukes topped the Bison earlier this season at the Colonial Relays. In Williamsburg, Va., Duquesne was second while Bucknell was just three points behind in third.
- Six individuals and the 4x800 relay all claimed wins at the Bucknell Team Challenge, but the Bison's success came to thanks to strength in numbers. Hana Casalnova (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) was the top finisher in the 800m (2:14.30), and Beth Braunegg (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Twp.), Erin Holbrook (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and Chelsea Lodato (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) took second through fourth. Kat Folger (Groton, Mass./Bishop Guertin), Laura Rycek (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area) and Tayler Siegrist (Madison, N.J./Madison) also swept the top three places in the javelin.
- Sarah Moniz (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional) was the only Bison to claim more than one gold medal at the Bucknell Team Challenge. The senior won the 1,500m and was also a member of the winning 4x800 relay. Moniz completed the 1,500 in 4:36.27, which was 12 seconds faster than her previous season best set at the Towson Invitational in March and the third-fastest time of her career. Her personal best in the event is 4:29.63, set at the Patriot League Championships last season.
- Bucknell put up a very balanced attack across all events last weekend. The Bison totaled 40.7 percent (101) of their 248 points in the field events. Those eight events made up 40 percent of the competition at the Bucknell Team Challenge.
- On Saturday, Folger became the first Bison other than Rycek to win the javelin this season. Folger took first with a career-best throw of 144-3, which kept her in third on the program record list. Rycek was second in the event at 143-11, while Siegrist was third at 139-9. Siegrist's throw was a season best for the sophomore and put her one inch short of her personal record.
- With her javelin performance last weekend, Siegrist moved up to 60th in the East Region. She joins Rycek, who is 10th in the region and 30th nationally, and Folger, who is now 37th in the East, in the hunt for one of the 48 spots up for grabs at the NCAA Regional Championships. All three will compete in the javelin at the Penn Relays.
- Rebecca Misko (Morristown, N.J./Madison) continued her stand as one of Bucknell's most well-rounded throwers. She placed second in the discus (144-2), third in the shot put with her best mark of the season (40-9 ½) and eighth in the hammer (137-3). Misko will compete in both the shot put and discus at the Penn Relays on Thursday.
- Among those joining the Bison throwers in Philadelphia are Moniz and Hooper for the 3,000m and the 4x100 and distance medley relays. The 4x100 unit - Jennifer Zymet (Paramus, N.J./Paramus), Taylor Funk (Mt. Pleasant, Pa./Mount Pleasant Area), Christina Muccio (Andover, Mass./Andover) and Sasha Hornock (Dover, Pa./Dover) - competed together for the first time at the Bucknell Team Challenge and placed third (48.74). Hooper, who ran a career-best 4:45.43 in the 1,500m last weekend, last competed in the 3,000m at the Colonial Relays. The junior ran a career best in that race as well, finishing fifth in 10:13.25.
- The 3,000 was kind to the Bison at last year's Penn Relays. Moniz placed second overall with a time of 9:41.15. That put her in second in Bucknell program annals, just behind the record holder Julie Sweitzer's 9:40.32, which was set in 1999. Stephanie Fulmer (Pottstown, Pa./St. Pius X) was 13th in the event last year, running 9:54.30, which ranks third all-time at Bucknell.
BUCKNELL AT THE 2011 PENN RELAYS
Thursday, April 28
1 p.m.: 4x100 (Zymet, Funk, Muccio, Hornock)
2 p.m.: Championship Javelin (Rycek)
2:15 p.m.: Eastern Shot Put (Misko)
3:15 p.m.: College Javelin (Folger, Siegrist)
4 p.m.: College Discus (Misko, Monaghan)
5:35 p.m.: Distance Medley Relay (Liggett, Zymet, Casalnova, Fulmer)
8:30 p.m.: 3,000m (Moniz, Hooper)
Friday, April 29
10 a.m.: Eastern High Jump (Powell)
11:15 a.m.: Eastern Shot Put (Marcott, Shapiro, Barr)
12:35 p.m.: 4x100 (Woods, Hicks, Riley, Bell)
2:55 p.m.: Shuttle Hurdle Relay (Arent, Brown, Mularz, Powell)
Saturday, April 30
9:30 a.m.: College Hammer (Joseph)
11 a.m.: Championship Javelin (Heitzman)
4:35 p.m.: 4x800 (Boyd, Picardo, Smith, Donaldson)
LOOKING AHEAD
Next up for the Bison is the meet they've all been waiting for. Bucknell will head to Easton, Pa., for the Patriot League Championships May 6-7. Both Bison squads will be attempting to defend their team titles.
