Update from Head Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Kevin Donner -- September 2024

Dear Spiked Shoe Family,

I hope everyone had a great summer. The coaching staff here at Bucknell sure did as we had two student-athletes who kept themselves very busy with postseason competition while representing the United States in World Athletics events.

Evie Bliss '27 had a fantastic freshman year as the Patriot League javelin champion, ECAC runner-up, 5th in NCAA East Preliminary, 13th at the NCAA Championships to earn 2nd team All-American, 1st place at the USATF U-20 Championships, 6th place at the US Olympic Trials (with a personal-best of 183-2), and just recently she finished as the Bronze Medalist at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru to end her season. Wow--what a fantastic freshman year!

After completing his collegiate career and graduating in May, Rayven Sample '24 won the 400 meters at the U.S. Paralympic Trials in Miramar, Florida, and then represented the United States just recently in Paris at the World Athletics Paralympics. This was Rayven's second Paralympic Team as he also ran in Tokyo in 2021. Rayven finished 12th in the 400 trials and 14th in the 100-meter trials.

Rayven Sample 2024 Paralympics

Congratulations to Coach Ryan Protzman (Throws Coach) and Coach Richard Alexander '03 (Sprints Coach) who guided both Evie and Rayven successfully this entire season, and for Rayven’s four-year career as a Bison. I also want to thank our alumni and boosters who have made gifts to our program that helped get Evie, Rayven, and the coaches to their respective USATF qualifying meets which were held in Eugene, Oregon, and Miramar, Florida respectively.

Now that classes are back in session for the fall semester, we are starting week five of the cross country season and week three of the track and field off-season conditioning. We are very excited to welcome a large group of incoming freshmen to the program. Here is a press release about our incoming class from June 24. I am very excited to add this very talented class to our program and welcome all of them to Lewisburg.

I have listed the remaining cross country meets below, and we would love for you to come out and watch us compete. Our next newsletter will have our official track and field schedule and we hope to see many of you at some meets. Please mark down the weekend of April 11-12-13, 2025 on your schedule to come to Lewisburg to watch our annual Bison Outdoor Classic. This is one of the largest and most competitive meets on the East Coast and we plan to host our annual alumni reception for all alums and their families on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon in our new Pascucci Team Center which overlooks the track. We will have food and drinks at those receptions. More details will be sent later this year, but I hope we have a very large turnout.

Remaining Cross Country Meets:

Saturday, Oct. 5: Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh, 10 a.m.

Friday, Oct. 18: IC4A-ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx N.Y., 10 a.m.

Saturday Nov. 2: Patriot League Championships at Lafayette (Metzgar Fields). 11 a.m.

Friday, Nov. 15: Mid-Atlantic Regional (at Penn State), 11 a.m.

Saturday, Nov. 23: NCAA Championships at University of Wisconsin

I wish everyone a great fall and I look forward to another exciting year of Bison Cross Country/Track and Field.

Sincerely,
Kevin Donner

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

Past Newsletters:

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