Bucknell University Athletics
Cross Country to Compete in Paul Short Run
10/4/2013 3:30:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
LEWISBURG, Pa. – On Saturday, Oct. 5 the Bucknell men's and women's cross country teams will make the short trip to Bethlehem, Pa. to take part in the 40th Annual Paul Short Run, presented by Asics and Schuylkill Valley Sports and hosted by Lehigh. More than 6,000 runners from over 450 high school and collegiate teams will converge on the Goodman Cross Country Course for one of the nation's largest meets, giving the Bison another chance to compete against some of the country's top collegiate competitors.
Named in honor of Paul Short, a student-athlete at Lehigh from 1930 to 1934, the Paul Short Run is one of the most well-known and respected in the cross country community. While at Lehigh, Short earned three varsity letters in football as the team's starting quarterback and also competed on both the lacrosse and wrestling teams while working towards his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He joined the school's athletic staff in 1938, serving as an assistant coach for the football, baseball, wrestling and lacrosse teams, as well as the Business Manager and Assistant Director of Athletics, but left during World War II to serve as a Major in the United States Army. He returned to the community in 1946, working in the Lehigh Athletic Department until his death in 1967.
This year's Paul Short field is the largest and most competitive in the history of the competition, featuring several nationally-ranked Division I cross country teams joined by many of the top Division II and III squads. On the men's side, No. 9 Princeton, No. 11 Iona, No. 15 Indiana and No. 20 Georgetown were all ranked in this week's USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Cross Country Coaches' Poll, while No. 6 Georgetown, No. 10 Cornell, No. 12 Villanova, No. 13 Penn State, No. 29 West Virginia and No. 30 Princeton are all ranked competitors on the women's side.
The Bucknell cross country teams are coming off of strong performances at Boston College's Coast to Coast Battle in Beantown and Bloomsburg's Husky Invitational last weekend, and Bison were selected for three of the Patriot League's four awards this week. The men finished ninth in Boston, led by junior Michael McGowan's 38th place finish, and first in Bloomsburg, where freshman Luke Giugliano took second place in the 8k race. Both runners earned weekly awards for their performances.
On the women's side, junior Kylie Pearse led the Bison to a tenth place finish at the Coast to Coast Battle, while freshman Catherine Scott's performance earned her Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors. Bucknell also took first place at the Husky Invitational, aided by junior Kate VanNess, senior Beth Braunegg and junior Maddie Dulac who all finished in the top five.
Saturday's competition will begin at 10 a.m. with the open races, and Bucknell will also compete in the men's Gold 8k race at 11 a.m. and the women's Gold 6k race at 11:45 a.m. After this weekend, the cross country teams will take a two-week break before competing in the Leopard Invitational at Lafayette on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Players Mentioned
