Bucknell University Athletics
Women's Cross Country Opens Season at Home on Friday
9/3/2015 1:26:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's cross country team opens the 2015 season with a pair of events this weekend. Some runners will kick off the year on their home course at the Bison Open on Friday, while others will head to Hamilton, N.Y. for Colgate's Harry Lang Invitational on Saturday.
Many of the Bucknell runners will see their first collegiate competition as the Bison welcome Susquehanna and Juniata for the Bison Open. The women's race is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be followed by the men's race at 6:40 p.m. Saturday's race at Colgate, host of this year's Patriot League Championships, is slated for an 11:30 a.m. start.
“We are training through both of these meets,” said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. “However, I am excited to see how our athletes have handled the training the past three weeks and to see who steps up and helps the team. We are running 10 veterans at Colgate on Saturday to see the Patriot League course and everyone else will be racing at home on Friday. I am looking at this meet as more of a set-up meet for next week's races at Penn State.”
The Bison were picked to win the Patriot League this season by a vote of the league's coaches and sports information directors. They are also ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic Region, coming in right behind Penn State, Princeton and Penn, and in front of Duquesne and Navy.
Bucknell took four of the top five spots in its home event last season. Current members of the team, sophomore Brennan Sharkey and junior Sarah Chandler, finished third and fourth, respectively. Susquehanna senior Ashley West ran to an eighth-place showing last year.
The Bison will compete at the Harry Lang Invitational for the first time since 2012 when they took second out of 11 teams. Senior Alison Billas made her collegiate debut in that race and finished 12th.
After the two events this weekend, the Bison will turn their attention to Penn State's Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational. That race is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11.
Players Mentioned
