2020 Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame Class Announced

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame Committee has announced the election of seven former Bison greats, who will be enshrined this fall as part of the 42nd induction class. This year's group includes three of the top runners in Bucknell history, two of the school's all-time best soccer players, and record-setters from the sports of football and wrestling.

The Hall of Fame Class of 2020:

Mike Deckert '84, a two-time conference champion steeplechaser who was also a key member of the 1982 men's cross country team that finished 12th in the nation.
Jabu Powell '02, the second-leading rusher in Bucknell football history and the school record-holder for rushing yards in a game with 282.
Theresa Dennis Simko '03, a two-time NCAA qualifier and four-time all-conference honoree in cross country.
Christa Sawko '07, the owner of 14 Patriot League Track & Field Championships gold medals.
Jennifer Dervarics '09, a two-time Patriot League Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Year.
Conor O'Brien '10, an All-America midfielder on the Bison men's soccer team who went on to have a successful pro career in Europe.
Andy Rendos '10, who was part of the first wrestling recruiting class after the sport was reinstated in 2005, and then went on to become a two-time All-American.

The new Hall of Fame Class will be formally inducted on Friday, Sept. 11, as part of Homecoming Weekend festivities. Also that weekend, a brand new Hall of Fame area will be unveiled in the Kenneth Langone Athletics and Recreation Center.

The Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1979 to honor the very best in the history of Bison athletics. This year's induction brings to 277 the number of outstanding student-athletes, coaches, administrators and friends of Bucknell whose contributions are forever preserved in the Hall of Fame.

Mike Deckert '84 was part of one of the most successful teams in any sport in Bucknell history, the 1982 men's cross country team that finished 12th at the NCAA Championships. Deckert ran on Hall-of-Fame coach Art Gulden's cross country squads that went 39-0 in dual meets during his four years, which was part of an incredible 167-meet winning streak that spanned 16 years. In 1982, the Bison won the East Coast Conference and District II championships, made a fifth straight NCAA appearance as a team, and finished a best-ever 12th at the national meet. Deckert was an All-East honoree that season, and he placed 94th at the NCAA Championship, which was third on the team behind Hall-of-Famers Bill Reifsnyder and Mark Hulme.

Deckert was just as successful on the track, where he captured the 1982 and 1984 ECC steeplechase titles, as well as an ECC indoor gold medal with the distance medley relay in 1984. He was also an All-East selection in the 10,000 meters in 1984, when he finished fifth at the IC4A Championships, one place behind Reifsnyder. Deckert graduated with the second-fastest steeplechase time in school history (8:56.24), trailing only Hall-of-Famer Rick Sayre. Deckert still ranks fourth on that list 36 years later, and his name also still appears on top-10 lists in the outdoor 5,000 meters (8th, 14:21.84), outdoor 10,000 meters (5th, 29:16.14) and indoor 5,000 meters (8th, 14:26.34).

A native of Lebanon, Pa., and a graduate of Cedar Crest High School, Deckert was also a standout in the classroom, where he earned six ECC Scholar-Athlete awards, two each in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field. He was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.

Jabu Powell '02 is one of the all-time great running backs in Bucknell football annals. He came to Bucknell from the U.S. Military Academy Prep School and proceeded to rush for 2,919 career yards, the second-highest total in school history behind only Hall-of-Famer Rich Lemon. Powell still holds the Bucknell single-game rushing record of 282 yards against Cornell on Sept. 16, 2000, which was one of his 12 career 100-yard rushing games. That mark was also a Patriot League single-game record.

Powell's 1,102 yards in 2000 was the sixth-highest single-season total in school history at the time, and it still ranks seventh in the Bison record book, even though he missed two games that season due to injury. In 1999, Powell rushed for 827 yards, third in the Patriot League, despite playing the first four games of the season as a wide receiver. As a freshman in 1998, he returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown on one of his first career touches of the football. The return was the fifth-longest in school history at the time.

He ranked second at graduation and now third on Bucknell's career all-purpose yards chart (4,641). Powell is also fifth in touchdowns (27) and eighth in scoring (161). His 84 points in 2000 are tied for fifth-most in team history. Powell, who came to Bucknell from Orlando's Dr. Phillips High School, was Bucknell's leading rusher each year from 1999-2001 and he earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors in each of those seasons. He earned Honorable Mention on the Don Hansen Football Gazette All-America Team in 2000.

Theresa Dennis Simko '03 became one of the top distance runners in Bucknell history during her days at Bucknell. She ran in two NCAA Cross Country Championships, first in 1999 when Bucknell qualified as a team for the first time in program history, and again in 2001, when she qualified individually and turned in the best finish (73rd out of 249 competitors) in school history. Dennis was an All-Patriot League honoree in all four of her cross country seasons, finishing sixth-third-third-second in her four appearances at the PL Championship.

Dennis also starred on the track, where she earned four more All-Patriot League citations, three outdoors and one indoors. She was the Patriot League indoor champion in the 5,000 meters as a senior, and she was a three-time conference runner-up in the outdoor 10,000 meters. She also earned All-East honors with a fourth-place finish in the 5K at the 2003 ECAC Indoor Championships. Her best 10K time of 36:18.28 ranked fourth at graduation and still ranks seventh, and her career best in the indoor 5K of 17:12.57 was third at graduation and eighth today. A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and a graduate of Hanover Area H.S., Dennis was named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team in 2016.

Montoursville, Pa., native Christa Sawko '07 is the third member of the Bucknell women's track and field Class of 2007 to be elected to the Hall of Fame, joining pole vaulter/hurdler Melanie Buczko and thrower Marjorie Grap. Sawko, one of the top middle-distance runners in school history, graduated with a whopping 14 Patriot League gold medals, seven indoors and seven outdoors, and she was an eight-time All-East selection and two-time NCAA Regional qualifier.

Christa Sawko

Sawko won at least one individual gold medal in seven of her eight Patriot League Championships appearances, missing out only at her freshman-year outdoor meet. In her indoor career, she won the 800-meter title as a freshman, the 1,000 as a sophomore, and then exploded as a junior, claiming Track Athlete of the Meet honors after winning the 1,000 and the 4x400 and 4x800 relays. She helped shatter the conference record in the 4x800, and then as a senior she won both the 800 and 4x800 titles. Sawko was also a four-time All-East honoree indoors, highlighted by a runner-up finish in the 4x800 relay as a junior and a third-place finish in the open 800 as a senior.

Outdoors, Sawko captured both the 800 and 4x800 Patriot League titles in each of her final three seasons, and she added the 1,500-meter title to the list in 2007. She earned four more All-East certificates outdoors, including an ECAC gold medal in the 4x800 relay in 2005. Sawko also qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the 800 as both a junior and senior, finishing as high as 14th.

Sawko's name appeared all over the top of the Bucknell record board when she graduated, and many of those school records held up for many years. She owned the school record in the outdoor 800 (2:08.98) for 11 years and both the indoor 1,000 (2:53.90) and outdoor 1,500 (4:28.28) for seven years. She also helped break school records in the 4x800, distance medley and sprint medley relays. Her top indoor 800 time of 2:09.18 ranked second only to Hall-of-Famer Stephanie Bango.

Also a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as a senior, Sawko was actually recruited to Bucknell as a 400-meter hurdler, and she placed 17th in that event at the 2004 Junior National Championships.

Jennifer Dervarics '09 was a lethal striker on some of the very best teams in Bucknell women's soccer history. Dervarics was selected as the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year as a junior and senior, she was a three-time All-Patriot League selection (twice First Team, once Second Team), and she made the All-Mid-Atlantic Region squad following her senior campaign.

Dervarics recorded 12 goals and six assists in both her junior and senior years, and she was the Patriot League's leading scorer in 2008. She graduated with 91 career points on 36 goals and 19 assists. Each of those totals ranked third in school history at the time of her graduation, and she now ranks fourth in goals and points.

During her Bucknell career, Dervarics helped the Bison to the 2005 Patriot League Tournament title and the second NCAA Tournament appearance in team history. The Bison also captured Patriot League regular-season titles in 2006 and 2007, and in Dervarics' four years at Bucknell, the squad posted a 45-28-6 overall record and a 20-7-1 mark in league play.

A native of Emmaus, Pa., Dervarics was also a CoSIDA Academic All-District and NSCAA Scholar All-East Region selection. One of the league's top athletes despite her small size, Dervarics also served as an emergency goalkeeper for a few games during her junior year, and she had a brief stint with the Bison women's basketball team.

After graduation, Dervarics played professionally with the Philadelphia Fever before joining the coaching ranks. She recently completed her second year as head coach at Northwestern Ohio, where she led the Racers to a 21-2 record, a No. 3 national ranking, and a run to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament.

Conor O'Brien '10 was the quintessential attacking center midfielder who became one of the most-decorated players in the history of the Bucknell men's soccer team. As a senior in 2009, O'Brien led the Patriot League in goals, assists and points, he won his second straight Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year award, and then he became Bucknell's first soccer All-American in 33 years when he was named to the NSCAA All-America Second Team.

O'Brien, who was a three-time All-Region and three-time All-Patriot League honoree, was one of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy, given to the national player of the year. He was also named the Philadelphia Soccer News Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Soccer News Network National Player of the Year honor after a magnificent senior season. In 2009, O'Brien recorded a point in 17 of the team's 23 games, including a school-record 11-game points streak. Seven of his 11 goals were game-winners, including a memorable overtime goal against Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. The Bison would win the league title two days later, and then he assisted on the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Princeton in the NCAA Tournament first round.

O'Brien led the Bison to two Patriot League titles and two NCAA Tournament wins, and the 2009 team won a school-record 17 games (17-6-0). A two-year captain, O'Brien finished his career with 26 goals, 25 assists and 77 points. The point total ranks sixth in school history and was the program's highest in more than 20 years (all five players ranked ahead of him are already in the Hall of Fame). His 25 assists are second-most in Bucknell history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Dave Domsohn.

A native of Mt. Sinai, N.Y., and a graduate of St. Anthony's High School, O'Brien went on to a successful pro career, primarily in Denmark and Austria. In 2016, he was named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team.

Andy Rendos '10 joins Conor O'Brien as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, 10 years after a sensational wrestling career at Bucknell. Part of the first recruiting class after the Bison wrestling program was re-launched in 2005, Rendos was a four-time NCAA qualifier and Bucknell's second-ever two-time All-American.

Wrestling at 165 pounds, Rendos posted 121 career victories, a school record at the time, and now the second-highest total behind former teammate Kevin LeValley's 127. A dozen of those victories came at the NCAA Championships, where he finished fifth as a junior in 2009 and sixth the following year. In 2010, Rendos became Bucknell's first Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion when he won the 165-pound title, and he also finished second at EIWAs as a junior, fourth as a sophomore, and third as a freshman.

A graduate of Brockway (Pa.) Area High School, Rendos helped Bucknell to a third-place team finish at the EIWA Championships in 2009 and fourth in 2010. He posted a 26-2 career record in EIWA duals, including 14 straight wins to close his career. His final career winning percentage of .791 (121-32) ranks sixth in school history, and is 24 career pins also ranked in the top 10. His 33 wins as a senior would have tied the school record at the time, except his teammate LeValley logged 42 that same season.

A team co-captain all four years at Bucknell, Rendos was a two-time recipient of the William A. Graham IV Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, and he became the sixth wrestler to win the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in his class.

2020 Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame Class Announced

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