Men's Track and Field Set to Host Gulden Invitational on Saturday

1/23/2015 2:45:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

By: TBD

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's track team will participate in its only scored event of the indoor regular season Saturday when it hosts the Gulden Invitational at Gerhard Fieldhouse. The invitational is named in honor of the late Arthur F. Gulden, a member of the Bucknell Hall of Fame after leading the cross country and track and field teams for 31 years, and is in its fourth year as a scored team event.

Prior to becoming a scored invitational, Bucknell hosted the Gulden Relays from 2002-11. The Bison have won the invitational in each of the first three seasons since the change in format.

“I consider this meet to be the start of our indoor season,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “We had a long holiday layoff and a rust-buster meet at Penn State during our winter training camp two weeks ago and we are excited to have a scored meet where it is about competing for higher places rather than chasing marks. Being at home will be fun and we expect a lot of electricity in the air.”

Bucknell will be joined at Gerhard Fieldhouse this weekend by Saint Franics (Pa.), Mount St. Mary's, Howard, East Stroudsburg, Shippensburg and Bloomsburg.

In the 2014 Gulden Invitational, Bucknell out-scored second-place Shippensburg, 200.50-159, to win the team title. The Bison won eight events, including Christian Lupica with a school-record time in the 60-meter hurdles. Other current members of the team to win an individual title last year include Anthony Menza (500-meter), John Westwood (800) and Michael McGowan (mile).

The Bison are coming off a great showing two weeks ago at the Penn State Relays, led by Andrew Garcia-Garrison with a meet-record time in the 3,000-meter run. He was voted the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week for his efforts.

The Gulden Invitational is the second of four home events for the Bison during the indoor season. They will host the Bison Open and Multi on Jan. 30-31, and the Bucknell Tune-Up on Feb. 13.