Men's Cross Country Takes Seventh at Princeton Invitational

Saturday, October 17

University Park, Pa.

10:00 AM

Bucknell University

Penn State Open

Jessee Named Bison Athlete of Week; Bordash, Sharkey PL XC Rookies of Week

Men's Cross Country Takes Seventh at Princeton Invitational

10/17/2015 8:25:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

By: TBD

PRINCETON, N.J. – Competing in its final regular season meet of the 2015 season, the Bucknell men's cross country team had a solid showing with a seventh-place finish out of 21 teams at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday.

The Bison posted a score of 224, finishing ahead of Lehigh, Temple and Duquesne in the top 10. Penn won the team title with 42, while Villanova was second with 51.

Junior Luke Giugliano and sophomore Will Bordash were the top two finishers for the Bison, taking 35^th and 36^th, respectively. The two crossed the line at nearly the exact same time with Giugliano finishing in 24:51.5 and Bordash in 24:51.7 on the 8k course. Villanova took the top three spots in the field of 181 runners, including first-place Patrick Tiernan in 23:53.

Peter Murray gave Bucknell three runners in the top 40 with a 39^th-place showing. Andrew Kirna (50^th) and John Kirna (70^th) rounded out the Bison's scored runners.

“Our men ran a very smart race and paced themselves very well,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “They seem to be improving quite a bit. We just have to clean up the fifth, sixth and seventh spots and close the gap with our top four. We are lacking a pure frontrunner, but if the pack of four can improve about 15 to 20 seconds comparatively speaking, we will have a good team going into the championships.”

Bucknell also sent runners to the Penn State Open, which included the host Nittany Lions, Youngstown State and Saint Francis. Louis Tobias was the Bison's top runner, taking 10^th out of 33. He ran the 5.2 mile race in 27:31. Youngstown State's Ryan Sullivan won in 26:20, five seconds faster than second-place John Dugan (Penn State).

Jordan Jackson took 14^th and Matthew Taddeo was 16^th to finish in the top half of the field for Bucknell.

The Bison will have a two week break before competing at the Patriot League Championships. The conference meet will be hosted by Colgate on Saturday, Oct. 31.