Track and Field Begins Outdoor Season with UMBC Big Dawg Invitational

3/28/2014 12:09:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

By: TBD

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell track and field team will begin its outdoor season on Saturday, traveling down to Baltimore, Md. for the Big Dawg Invitational, a small meet hosted by the UMBC Retrievers at the school's Outdoor Stadium Complex. Both the men's and women's squads are coming off of an indoor season that had remarkable highlights, including Bucknell's best showing at the ECAC/IC4A Championships in recent memory, and are looking forward to a successful outdoor season.

The Bison, who are the defending outdoor Patriot League champions on both the men's and women's side, were once again picked to finish among the conference's best in the recently-released preseason poll. The men, who finished second to Navy at the indoor league meet, were also picked to finish second in the outdoor season behind the Mids, earning 115 points and four first-place votes. The women, who were third at February's conference meet, were selected fourth in the outdoor poll with 127 points and one first place vote, finishing behind Boston University, Lehigh and Navy.

“After a layoff and spring break, we will use this meet as a rust buster to set us up for the Colonial Relays next weekend,” commented head coach Kevin Donner. “The outdoor season is a strategic time, and we utilize each meet for a specific purpose. Fulfilling those goals will be important for the Bison leading up to the Patriot League Championships.”

Traditionally, both teams have performed better in the outdoor season with the addition of a few events which are not contested in the indoor season, such as the discus, hammer, javelin, 400m hurdles and steeplechase. Donner praised his team for the hard work that they have been putting in and admitted that, while most of his student-athletes will be training through the meet in preparation for upcoming competitions, he is excited to see what the Bison will produce on Saturday.

As in the indoor season, the Bison will rely on the experience of talented upperclassmen and the promise of ambitious underclassmen to propel them to success in the outdoor season. Both the men and women took home team titles at the 2013 Outdoor Patriot League Championships, and the squads return six individual title winners this season. Senior Jennifer Zymet is the three-time defending champion in the 400m, while sophomore Chrissy Haney (400m hurdles), senior Alyssa Cardillo (long jump) and sophomore Sophia Nnadi (shot put) each won events as well. On the men's side, senior Ray Holmes, who was named the Field Athlete of the Meet after winning the long jump and triple jump at the indoor conference meet, is the defending champion in the triple jump, while junior Kevin Keller was victorious in the long jump last year. In addition, the women's squad will return runners from both the first-place 4x100m relay and the winning 4x800m relay, as sophomore Jess Bridle and junior Kim Nagotko competed in the shorter race, while senior Emily Waksmunski ran a leg on the longer relay.

The outdoor season and the quest for two more team titles will begin in Baltimore on Saturday, with field events scheduled to commence at 10 a.m. and running events set to start at 10:45 a.m. The meet will also be video streamed live by UMBC Retrievers TV.