Bison Women Looking to Sweep Patriot League Championship Meets

4/30/2015 3:42:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

By: TBD

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's track and field team looks to win its second conference title of the year when it travels to Army West Point's Shea Stadium for the Patriot League Outdoor Championships on Friday and Saturday.

Bucknell easily won the Patriot League Indoor Championships in February. In each of the past two seasons, the team that has won the indoor title has gone on to win the outdoor meet, including the Bison in 2013.

“We have been very fortunate this year regarding injuries, and because of that we seem to be in the mix along with Boston and Army for a championship,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “It's definitely going to be a much closer meet than indoors. Army being at home will help them, and Boston is much healthier during the outdoor season than they were for indoors.”

Boston University took first at last year's outdoor championships with 203.5 points, while Lehigh was the runner-up with 140.5. Bucknell was third in the 10-team field with 129 points.

The Bison have four returning athletes who earned All-Patriot League honors last season. Sophia Nnadi is the lone returning individual honoree. She took second in the shot put and also scored points with a fourth-place finish in the discus. She enters this year's meet ranked in the top three of the conference in both events, as well as the hammer throw.

Jen Silvestri, Kim Nagotko and Elyse Pettaway all return from the 4x400 relay team that took second last season. Bucknell has the second-fastest time in the event this year, in addition to the fastest time in the 4x800 and the second-best time in the 4x100. Both Nagotko and Silvestri rank high on the league's performance lists this year. Nagotko is third in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while Silvestri has the second-best 100-meter hurdles.

A pair of freshmen have a good chance of earning their first outdoor All-Patriot League honors. Christine Bendzinski, the Rookie of the Meet at the indoor championships, enters with the best time in the 800-meter run, while Efe Agege ranks second in the triple jump. Bendzinski also has the league's third-best 1,500-meter run.

Rounding out the Bison athletes with top-two marks in the Patriot League this season are Kate Scott in the 10,000-meter run and Stephanie Easse in the discus.