Update from Head Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Kevin Donner -- August 2023

Dear Spiked Shoe alumni, parents, and friends,

I hope everyone is having a great summer. It sure goes by fast as the 2023-24 academic school year will be starting in a few weeks. Although the NCAA Track & Field season has been over for a while, both rising sophomore Brylee Tereska and incoming freshman Evelyn Bliss competed in the javelin at the USATF U20 Championships in early July in Eugene, Oregon. Evelyn won the meet with a throw of 169-11 and will be representing the United States at the U20 Pan American Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico on Aug. 4-6. Brylee also competed very well, finishing 4th behind her second-best throw ever at 147-2, and she has been designated as a sub for the U20 Pan American Games. We also just received recent news that incoming freshman Prizila Negrete was asked to represent the country of Honduras at the U20 Pan American Games in the discus and shot put based on her PRs of 127-4 and 41-3.75, respectively, this past spring. Prizila lives in New York but has dual citizenship. We are very excited that Bucknell will be represented at this great international meet.

Last month, my coaching staff and I officially announced our new incoming Class of 2027, consisting of 23 men and 20 women who are starting classes at Bucknell later this month. I am very happy with the incoming class, as we brought in some great quality in all the different event areas. My staff and I are now identifying the recruits who we believe will fit well at Bucknell for next year's Class of 2028, and we cannot wait to get the process started.

Cross Country season is just around the corner and our runners are in their summer training. Here is our schedule and we hope to have many of you attending our meets:

Saturday, September 2
Harry Lang Invitational
Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.

Saturday, September 16
Robert Morris Invitational
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Saturday, September 30
Paul Short Invitational
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.

Friday, October 13
IC4A-ECAC Championships
Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, N.Y.

Saturday, October 28
Patriot League Championships
Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.

Friday, November 10
NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.

Saturday, November 18
NCAA Championships
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

We will be hosting two formal alumni receptions this coming year, and I am hoping with such long notice, this will give you plenty of time to plan a trip. The first one will be an alumni reception in the Denver, Colorado area on the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 12 at a site TBD. Last year we had 19 alumni attend and it was a great time. The USTFCCCA Coaching convention is in Denver once again this year, Dec. 11-15, and my staff and I are planning to attend. I know a couple of alumni not from Colorado who saw the social media posts from last year's reception and have told me that they want to fly in and see some of their old friends, so we expect an even larger turnout this year. I will keep everyone posted once we confirm the site and times.

We are very proud to be hosting the 2024 Patriot League Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the historic Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Friday-Saturday, May 3-4. We believe we will have very good teams this year and we hope to have a huge group of Bison fans and alumni at the meet to cheer us on. We will be hosting an alumni tailgate on both days for all former TFXC athletes and their families. The coaches will stop by after each day to mingle with everyone and talk about the meet. It will be a fun time and we are hoping for a very large turnout to give us a nice home-field advantage.

I'd be remiss if I did not mention that one of our own, Andrew Powell '12, will be inducted into the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame on Sunday, September 10 at 10:30 a.m. here on campus. Andrew had a great career, both as one of the top multi-event athletes we've ever had, and also on the pitch as an outstanding soccer player. Congratulations Andrew!

Once again, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer and we cannot wait to get started with the new academic and athletics school year of 2023-24.

'Ray Bucknell!

Coach Donner

Kevin Donner
Head Cross Country/Track & Field Coach
Bucknell University
kdonner@bucknell.edu

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