Buckley Takes 26th out of 289 in Stacked Field at Penn State

Friday, October 12

University Park, Pa.

10:45 a.m.

Bucknell University

Penn State National Open

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Buckley Takes 26th out of 289 in Stacked Field at Penn State

10/12/2018 3:45:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

The Meet Included Five Nationally-Ranked Teams and 13 from Power Five Conferences

RESULTS

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Colleen Buckley finished 26^th out of 289 runners at the Penn State National Open on Friday. The event featured a stacked field, including five nationally-ranked teams, two more that received votes in the national poll, and 13 teams from Power Five Conferences.

Bucknell took 20^th out of 28 as a team with a score of 536, coming in just behind North Carolina (520). The Bison finished ahead of Pitt, Ohio, Akron, Rutgers, Lehigh, Duquesne, James Madison, and Loyola (Md.).

No. 19 Penn State won the team title with a score of 62, coming in ahead of No. 14 Michigan State (87), No. 26 Georgia Tech (143), and No. 29 Princeton (182). No. 27 Utah was also in the field and finished 10^th.

"I thought it was a very solid run for us," Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner said. "It was a competitive field and most of our women got off to a bad start. I thought we did a great job maintaining our focus and moving up throughout the race."

Buckley completed the 6k course in 21:11 and has now finished as Bucknell's top runner in each of her races this season. Penn State's Julia Paternain won the race in 20:30, while Michigan State's Maggie Farrell and Annie Fuller were second and third. Sixteen of the 25 runners in front of Buckley came from Power Five teams.

Buckley was the top finisher from the three Patriot League teams by 95 spots in the individual results. Bucknell had four runners in the top half of the field, including Margaret Thomson (121^st), Ashley Blair (133^rd), and Jenna Farmer (135^th). Nora Bennet was 190^th, while Payton Capes crossed the line right behind her in 191^st.

"Colleen looked good and is in a good position for NCAA," Donner said. "Thomson was her usual self and we got great races out of Blair and Farmer. I also thought Bennett ran very well. A few people struggled, but that happens in these very large and competitive meets."

Bucknell competed at the Penn State National Open last season, and Buckley took 24^th. This year's race was a much more challenging field and she was just two spots back of that.

The Bison will send 15 runners to the Gettysburg Invitational on Saturday. They will then host the Bison Tuneup on Friday, Oct. 19.