Buckley Earns All-Region Honor for Second Straight Season

Friday, November 9

University Park, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

Mid-Atlantic Regional

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Buckley Earns All-Region Honor for Second Straight Season

11/9/2018 2:29:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

The Senior Finished 19th Out of 199 Runners

RESULTS

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Bucknell senior Colleen Buckley earned All-Region recognition Friday while finishing 19^th out of 199 runners at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, hosted by Penn State at the Blue and White Course.

Buckley, who won the Patriot League individual title two weeks ago, finished the 6k course in 21:42, just two seconds behind Penn State's Kathryn Munks in 18^th. The race was won by Villanova sophomore Rachel McArthur in 21:03, while La Salle junior Grace Mancini was the runner-up with a time of 21:09.

Bucknell totaled a final score of 237 and finished eighth as a team, just one spot below its regional ranking. Villanova (33) took the team title and was followed by Princeton (64) and Penn State (91) in the top three. Temple (158), Penn (171), West Virginia (217), and Georgetown (236) rounded out the teams in front of the Bison. Finishing up the top 10 behind Bucknell was Pitt (298) and Maryland (331).

"We were a tad off today as a team, but muscled our way to an eighth-place finish, only one point behind Georgetown and about 20 behind WVU," Bucknell head coach Kevin Donner said. "We are so close to being a national caliber team, but just haven't been able to get over the hump of having all seven starters run well at this meet."

The Bison were the top Patriot League team at the meet. Other league teams competing were Lehigh (13^th), Navy (16^th), American (19^th), Lafayette (24^th) and Loyola (25^th). There were 30 teams in the race.

Sophomore Ashley Blair carried the momentum from a great race at the Patriot League Championships into the regional meet. The First Team All-Patriot League runner finished 36^th while competing as part of the regional lineup for the first time.

"Buckley was very close to making nationals and was disappointed in her race, however she has been a huge part of our program for the past three years and will be very hungry for the track season," Donner said. "Blair had a tremendous day and is no doubt our most improved runner. I also felt Capes ran very well today."

Rounding out Bucknell's lineup were sophomore Payton Capes (51^st), senior Margaret Thomson (64^th), senior Jenna Farmer (67^th), junior Lauren Gronbeck (81^st), and freshman Nora Bennett (145^th). Capes, Thomson, Farmer, and Bennett all earned All-Patriot League honors two weeks ago.

After having no All-Region runners from 2007-14, Bucknell has racked up awards in recent years. The Bison have had six All-Region runners and two national qualifiers in the last four years.

"Overall I am very pleased with the season," Donner said. "We had a great senior class that set a great tone and some talented underclassmen who are developing and learning the Bucknell system."