Bucknell Bison Classic

 The Bucknell Bison Classic is known by the gators as a magical weekend that always produces great results.  This weekend was no different.  On the women's side, the lady gators were lead by Mia Symoniak and Lauren Butler.  Mia ran a national provisional qualifying time in the 10k, with a time of 36:14.62.  This time places her 8th on the national qualifiers list.  Lauren Butler threw the javelin the distance of 140-07 feet which placed her 2nd at the meet and 4th on the NCAA qualifiers list.  Butler also threw the shot put 39-01.25 at the meet.  Also running the 10k was freshman Kelly Gallagher, her first attempt at the distance allotted her with a time of 38:26.51.  Katie Stancik won her section of the 5,000 meter run with a time of 18:20.01.  Holly Wilson continued her strong stretch of long and triple hops, jumping 15-10.5 and 35-01.25 in the long and triple jumps, respectively.  Sam Zink was the only girls mid distance runner, doubling in the 800 and the 1500 meter runs with times of 2:22.43 and 5:01.74, respectively.  In the sprints, the dynamic duo of Rebecca Lendyak and Beth Muller doubled in the 100 and 200 meter sprints.  Becca finished the 100 with a time of 13.10 and the 200 with a time of 27.14.  Muller sprinted her way to a 12.83 second finish in the 100 and a 26.53 second finish in the 200.

On the mens side, which was not as deep as the womens, featured some season bests and national qualifying times.  Chris Marker led the way with a 14:37.52 finish in the 5,000 which qualified him for the NCAA meet at the end of the year and he is currently 10th on the list.  Ryan Hanson was also in the race and finished with a time of 15:10.32.  Pat McLaughlin finished his first 10k of the year with a time of 31:04.  Matthew Brush continues to improve in the steeplechase finishing with a time of 9:39.5.  Taylor "the Jet" Throckmorton ran well in both the 200 and the 400 at the meet, running 22.87 in the 200 and a season best of 49.75 in the 400.  The ever consistent Andrew Mahone finished the 800, once again, in 1:55.76.  Both Benjamin Eyer and Mike Vlah ran in the 800 as well as the 1500.  Eyer finished the 800 in a PR of 1:56.62 and came back in the 1500 with a time of 4:01.28.  Vlah ran a solid 800 finishing in 1:57.44, but the double proved to be a difficult beast as Vlah faded to a 4:12.01 in the 1500.
The gators will take those who did not compete at the Bucknell Bison Classic to IUP next weekend and hopefully produce some similar results.

W&J April 3rd, 2010

On April 3rd, the whole gators squad trekked down to Washington, PA to compete at Washington and Jefferson.  On the women's side, the meet yielded few suprises as it is still early in the year.  Lauren Butler finished first, second, and third in the javelin (129-10), shot put (40-03.25), and hammer (122-00) throws, respectively. Teammate Kristen Collins finished 6th in the discus (105-08), 7th in the shot put (33-02.00), and 4th in the hammer (114-09).  Also on the field half of track and field, Freshman Holly Wilson hopped her way to 4th place in the triple jump with a jump of 33-05.25. On the track, Beth Muller and Rebecca Lendyak placed 3rd and 4th in the 400 meter dash with times of 59.22 and 1:00.26, respectively.  They also went 3-4 in the 200 meter dash as well.  The women's 4x100 meter relay placed second overall with a time of 51.92.  In the distance events, Katie Stancik and Sara Matrano finished in 2nd and 3rd with times of 4:58.13 and 4:59.47, respectively.  Freshman Kelly Gallagher won her first collegiate race in the 5000 meter run, winning by over a minute, in 19:01.36.
The men's side showed a selective field of gators.  Dante Briscoe won the triple jump with a leap of 42-11.50.  Jakeb Zimmerman placed 2nd in the 10,000 meter and Garrett Gleeson was 4th, despite the extreme heat.  Matthew Brush finshed 2nd to All-American Dee Salukombo from Denison in the 3000 meter steeplechase.  Benjamin Richard Eyer won the 1500 meter sprint with a time of 4:02.82.  Taylor "catch me if you can" Throckmorton finished 2nd place overall in the 400 meter dash with a time of 50.83.  Andrew Mahone continued to build on his 800 speed and raced his way to 3rd with a time of 1:56.12.

In team results, the women tied for 1st place with Waynesburg and the men placed 4th overall.

The gators look forward to taking a select crew to the Bucknell Bison Classic, known for it's fast times over the past few years, next weekend.