Women's Cross Country Wins Title at Colgate's Harry Lang Invitational

Saturday, September 5

Hamilton, N.Y.

11:30 AM

Bucknell University

Harry Lang Invitational

Track and Field Returns to Action Saturday at the Penn State Relays

Women's Cross Country Wins Title at Colgate's Harry Lang Invitational

9/5/2015 2:42:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

By: TBD

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Bucknell women's cross country season is off to a good start as the Bison ran to a first-place finish at the eight-team Harry Lang Invitational, hosted by Colgate on Saturday. Led by junior Kate Scott in third, the Bison had three top-10 finishers to help them edge second-place Albany by one point.

Bucknell and Albany finished with 52 and 53 points, respectively, while Syracuse – the third-ranked team in the Northeast Region - and Buffalo tied for third with 66. Navy rounded out the top five with 101. The Bison entered the event as the seventh ranked team in the Mid-Atlantic Region and have won five team titles dating back to the beginning of last season.

"We ran a nice team race and moved up in the standings after each mile," said Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner. "It's always nice to win, but the heat and the hill took its toll on some of our better runners. We will get back to work tomorrow and plan on improving quite a bit as the season progresses."

Scott crossed the line in 17:22, coming in behind Syracuse's Cassia Hameline, who won the race in 17:17, and Albany's Jessica Donohue. Stephanie Bitcon (Syracuse) and Rachel Barich (Buffalo) came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Senior Deanna Godby (17:43) and junior Sarah Chandler (17:44) had top-10 finishes for Bucknell, coming in at ninth and 10^th, respectively. Freshman Christine O'Kane had an outstanding debut for the Bison, taking 11^th – 10^th among scored runners – with a time of 17:45. Senior Kate VanNess also contributed to the win with a 22^nd-place showing.

Also competing for the Bison were junior Elizabeth Sheprow and freshman Margaret Thompson, who took 26^th and 28^th in the 111-runner field.

The Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational is next on the schedule for Bucknell. The race is hosted by Penn state and is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday.