Cross Country Teams Get 2014 Season Going with Bison Opener on Saturday

8/28/2014 4:32:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

By: TBD

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's and women's cross country teams open the 2014 season on Saturday morning with the annual Bison Open. The host Bison will compete against Saint Francis (Pa.), Susquehanna and Juniata, with the men's race starting at 9:30 a.m. followed by the women at 10:15 a.m. Both competitions will start and finish on the grass practice fields adjacent to Holmes Stadium.

The men's race features plenty of quality in-state competition, as Saint Francis is picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference this year, while Susquehanna and Juniata are the top two teams in the Landmark Conference. Susquehanna has won five of the last seven Landmark men's cross country titles, including 2013 when it beat out runner-up Juniata for the crown.

"I am very pleased with how our pre-season training has gone," said head coach Kevin Donner. "We have been very patient and have not been very intense, so this meet will be our first major test. I am looking forward to seeing who steps up and competes. We will be holding out a few of our higher-end runners to protect them for later in the season and allow our depth to be our front runners for this meet. I know those runners will be excited."

In the 2014 Patriot League preseason polls, Bucknell's women are picked fourth and the men sixth out of 10 teams. Those are the exact places of the Bison squads at last year's Patriot League Championship, and Donner feels that with some improved health, both teams have the depth and talent to move up in the standings this year.

“This is by far my deepest women's team ever,” said Donner. “We literally have up to 18 to 20 women who will be fighting for our top seven varsity spots. The key will be who our top five will be in October and November if we want to contend for a league championship and a top-seven finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional.

“Deanna Godby and Zoe Gaston both had huge track seasons in the spring, and Godby was all-league as a freshman,” said Donner. “Catherine Scott and Sarah Chandler had nice freshman years, and their experience should put them up there. Kylie Pearce and Montana DiPietrantonio were established frontrunners last year but had some health issues near the championships. Plus we have a slew of runners who ran well this past track season.”

Donner also noted that two freshmen to watch are Brennan Sharkey from Hackettstown, New Jersey and Christine Bendzinski from Hebron, Connecticut. Their times indicate that they can come in and contribute right away to our program

“We have high expectations for our men this year,” said Donner. “The 2013 season was tough on us, as we had four of our top five guys injured at certain points of the year. All of them bounced back with nice track seasons in the winter and spring.

“Michael McGowan, John Dugan and Andrew Garcia-Garrison are our top three, and if all three are healthy they are all capable of First Team All-Patriot League. We really need a few others to step up, and we will look for guys like Glen Williams, Peter Murray, Andrew Kuchta, John Westwood and the Kirna brothers (Andrew and John) to provide us the depth we need to re-establish ourselves as a league contender this year.”

Two newcomers in particular that have stood out are William Bordash and Zachary Williams, both from Connecticut. Both placed very highly in their Connecticut state meet a year ago.

The Bison Open is Bucknell's lone home cross country meet of the year. The Bison men and women will be back in action on Sept. 6 at the Detroit Mercy Invitational. Other regular-season competitions include the Dickinson Long Course-Short Course Invitational, the Panorama Farms Invitational hosted by Virginia, the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem and the Princeton Invitational.

The 2014 Patriot League Championships will be hosted by Lehigh on Nov. 1. The NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals will be Nov. 14 at Penn State, and the NCAA Championships are Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.