Women's Cross Country Rolls Lafayette for First Dual Win Since 2011

Saturday, September 5

Lewisburg, Pa.

9:30 a.m.

Bucknell University

Lafayette

Photo by: Brett Newcomb

Women's Cross Country Rolls Lafayette for First Dual Win Since 2011

9/5/2026 1:32:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

LEWISBURG, Pa.- Bucknell women's cross country began 50 years ago on Sept. 18, 1976 at the California State Invitational hosted by the California University of Pennsylvania. The Bison women finished second. Their first dual meet occurred on Oct. 23 versus Cornell. The Bucknell women won the meet. On a perfect Saturday morning, the 2026 Bucknell women's team honored its predecessors with a 21-40 win over Lafayette. Three Orange & Blue runners claimed top five places.

"I thought our ladies ran very well," head coach Kevin Donner said. "We grouped up real well for the first 2K and then the second 2K, things kind of broke off. O'Day and Granger obviously looked very good finishing 1-2. Lafayette had two people that broke into our top five. But our depth looked solid as well."

The Bison women last ran dual meets in 2011 when Bucknell defeated a pair of Steel City schools, Duquesne and Pittsburgh, on Sept. 17. Dual meets used to constitute the majority of cross country schedules in the olden days. The opportunity to revive the tradition arose when Lafayette accepted Donner's invitation for a Sept. 5 meet.

"I really appreciate that they were here and they got a good chance to see the course," Donner said. "But we also got a good chance to see the course as well in a competitive situation and we won the meet pretty handily."

Appropriately, two Orange & Blue runners tied for first. Kailey Granger and Kerry O'Day emerged in the ultimate photo finish, clocking identical times of 13:59.20. For both runners, the victory symbolized a return to competition.

Last spring, Granger broke her mother Julie Switzer's 3000-meter run school record at the ECAC Championships. For her track & field season, it was a Pyrrhic victory. The heavy workload resulted in a fracture that appeared after the Penn Relays ended her spring campaign. Hale and hearty for her final year of cross country, the 2025 First Team All-Patriot League runner looked confident and capable as the captain led her charges to the victory.

"I felt really good," Granger said. " I got a really good night's sleep last night, which helped. But I just felt really good, really fresh, really excited. Last first home meet and last first cross country meet ever. So it was just fun to have Kerry there and just do it all together as a team."

Granger enters her second consecutive season as a cross country captain. She led a Bucknell squad that was missing Shaelan McNally, the runner-up at the 2025 Patriot League Championships, due to injury. The Bison did not miss a beat and protected its home soil.

"I feel like we did really well," Granger observed. "We had a really good plan going into it that we just were going to stick together through 2K and then do what we got to do after then. If we had any girls with us from the other team, we were just going to press and finish as high as we could."

O'Day's 2025-26 spiked shoe season was diametrically opposite of Granger's. The junior runner suffered an injury-plagued cross country campaign but rebounded for a strong track & field showing. Revived and ready to push last fall into the past, O'Day kept pace with her captain and notched her first cross country victory.

"I felt really good," O'Day said. "It felt really smooth. It was nice to be at home today."

The meet also served as advance scouting for Bucknell, since the Patriot League Championships are scheduled for Lewisburg on Halloween. The Bison were at home for the first time since 2022 to competitively acquaint the harriers with the course.

"We just are going to get to know it so well," O'Day acknowledged. "Conquer the hill. We'll be ready. It's just, I feel like everyone being back, all the alumni, it's just going to be like good vibes, a good day."

Lafayette runners grabbed third and fourth place. Co-captain Katie Moncavage finished fifth, running 14:09.30. The 2025 All-League runner halted Lafayette's streak of two runners and ensured a Bison win.

Katrina Torelli was right on her captain's heels, placing sixth, and logging 14:09.90. Torelli enjoyed a successful track & field season, resplendent with all-time top ten marks while collecting four wins.

Bradley Weldon rounded out the Bucknell scorers. The senior harrier finished seventh, clocking 14:19.40. The breakout star of 2025, who went from missing league rosters in her first two seasons to placing 17th at the Patriot League Championships last fall, did not miss a beat to start 2026.

Next up for Bucknell is Route 45 Rival Penn State's Spiked Shoe Invitational on Friday.

"We'll get a much better gauge of where we're at on Friday when we're at Penn State, where the women will run 6K," Donner said.

The Bison women harriers, who started running 50 years ago, likely never imagined the heights that the program would reach. The dual win on Saturday paid homage to the trailblazers.