Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Paul Short Invitational
Women's Cross Country Wins Brown Race at Paul Short Run for Third Title of Year
10/4/2014 7:50:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Whether it's the starters or the depth runners, the results seem to be the same for the Bucknell women's cross country team this season. Following a difficult race at the University of Virginia last weekend, the Bison rested their starters, but still topped 39 other teams to win the title Saturday in the Brown race of the Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh.
Led by an eighth-place finish by Christine Bendzinski, Bucknell cruised to the win with 81 points. The Bison have now won three of the four scored invitationals they have entered. Marist finished second Saturday with 136 points, while Holy Cross was a distant third at 236.
“I am very pleased with the depth of our women's team right now,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “We were able to rest our starters and the women we raced today did a fantastic job. They were patient early in the race and were constantly passing people throughout to take the win in the Brown race. I believe this team would have held its own in the Gold race had we decided to run it.”
Bendzinski's time of 21:49 was just a little over a minute behind the first-place runner. Amy Regan of Stevens Institute of Technology won the race in 20:42. Catherine Scott (15th), Deanna Godby (16th) and Kylie Pearse (17th) also finished in the top 20 in a field of 357 runners. Kate VanNess also contributed to the win with a 25th-place finish.
“Bendzinski is really coming on strong, and it's great to see Scott, Godby and Pearse up there again,” Donner said.
The Bison men also had a solid meet, taking 11th out of 40 teams. They were paced by Peter Murray's 31st-place showing with a time of 25:46. Jeffrey Archer, running for Queens Gaels, bested the 341-runner field, winning with a time of 24:34.
“Murray did a great job running the last two miles under 10-flat, and the other guys moved up, as well, for a solid finish in the Brown race.”
All five of Bucknell's scored runners finished in the top 100 in the large field. Ross Pirnie (61st), Zachary Williams (74th), Dylan Cowell (81st) and Luke Giugliano (87th) gave the Bison a final score of 334, just five points behind 10th-place Tulane. Princeton won the title with a score of 83.
“We got exactly what we were looking for today from the men's team,” Donner said. “We were able to rest our starters, and the guys who raced did an admirable job. They went out very conservative, maybe too conservative considering the size of the field. However that allowed them to run as a tight pack through 5k.”
The Bison will send runners to two separate events on Saturday, Oct. 11. Some runners will compete at the Gettysburg Invitational, while others will make the trip to the Princeton Invitational in what will be the final event before the Patriot League Championships.
Players Mentioned
