Bucknell University Athletics
Track and Field Hosts Bison Open and Travels to Penn State this Weekend
1/29/2015 5:40:00 PM | Women's Track and Field
Penn State National Invitational - Meet Info/Schedule | Heat Sheets | Live Results
Bison Open - Schedule | Heat Sheets | Live Results
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Two events are scheduled for the Bucknell men's and women's track and field teams this weekend. The Bison will send a group of student-athletes to University Park for the Penn State National Invitational, while another group will stay in Lewisburg for the 17th Annual Bison Open. Both feature two days of competition, beginning Friday evening and wrapping up on Saturday.
The Bison will face top-notch competition at the Penn State Invitational, which includes multiple nationally-ranked teams in the field. On the men's side, No. 5 Penn State, No. 14 Villanova and No. 18 Akron are in the field of 27 teams, while No. 9 Georgetown and No. 18 Akron highlight the women's field.
Gerhard Fieldhouse will be packed as 28 teams will compete in the Bison Open. Competition begins with the pentathlon and heptathlon on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and concludes with the 4x400-meter relay on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.
" We have the best of both worlds this weekend with a very high level meet at Penn State on Friday and Saturday and a great meet here at home at the same time,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “Now that the rust-busting phase is over, it's time to improve on our marks and do our primary events to set us up for the upcoming championship meets. These next two weeks are critical in that it will determine our Patriot League lineup for the most part, and you will see a lot of ECAC-IC4A qualifying marks as well as some all-time top-10 marks in our program history."
Both the men's and women's teams are coming off dominant performances at the Gulden Invitational, held at Gerhard Fieldhouse last weekend. The Bison men out-scored second-place Shippensburg 225.50-153.50, while the women cruised to the title with 241 points to just 62 for second-place Towson.
Christian Lupica led the men to the team title, earning running event MVP honors for the third straight year. The senior won the 60-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash with IC4A-qualifying times. He also anchored the winning 4x400 relay team that won with an IC4A-qualifying time. Lupica was named the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week for his performance.
On the women's side, Kim Nagotko was named the running event MVP after winning the 200m and 400m with ECAC-qualifying times. The senior was also voted the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week, earning the award for the second time this season.
The Bison will again send athletes to two locations next week. One group will compete at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational, while another will travel to Ohio for the Youngstown Invitational.
Players Mentioned
