Oct. 26, 2010
Center Valley, Pa. — For the majority of cross country teams, this past weekend was set aside for rest, as the 2010 Patriot League Championships lurked around the bend.
Only Bucknell was in action, and many of its top female runners sat out from the Go-Fast River Run at Lock Haven University Saturday.
Charles Murphy, who led the men’s team at last year’s championship meet, placed 10th Saturday to lead the team again. Allison Donaghy led the women’s team with a ninth-place finish. Both were honored as the Runners of the Week.
The entire League will return to the course Saturday for the 2010 Patriot League championships at Lafayette College Oct. 30. The women’s race will start at 11 a.m. and men’s race will start at noon.
Patriot League Cross Country Weekly Release 10.26.10 
Team Notebooks
American The Eagles men’s team competed in four events this season, finishing first at two and third in another. Craig Brown led the Eagles for much of the season, winning his second individual title of the season at the Leopard Invitational Oct. 15. The women also competed in four events, finishing first twice and second twice. Octavia Rinehardt led the Eagles throughout the season with her best performance coming at the Leopard Invitational.
Army The Black Knights competed in three events — one that included no team scores — and two dual meets in 2010. The men were 0-2 in dual meets and had a 16th-place finish at the Iona Meet of Champions and 33rd at the Paul Short Run. Bryce Livingston was the Knights top runner in 2010. The women were 1-1 in dual meets and were 10th at the Iona Meet of Champions and 28th at the Paul Short Run. Marcie Nordt has been Army’s top finisher in three straight meets.
Bucknell The Bison competed in five events this season, with the women collecting the only first-place finish.Stephanie Fulmer and Sarah Moniz led the women’s team throughout the season as they placed first in a tri-meet against Duquesne and Pitt, 14th at the Paul Short Run and 32nd at Pre-Nationals. Charles Murphy, Joshua Clark and Keith Sansone have been the men’s top runners this season, along with freshman Chris Sacks. They helped the men finish 40th at the Paul Short Run.
Colgate The Raiders men’s and women’s teams competed in four events this season with the men picking up four top-five finishes to go with one team title. The women placed first and third in two home meets, while placing 10th at the Paul Short Run and 10th at the Penn State Invitational. Elise DeRoo, last year’s individual champion, has led the women’s team, while the men’s team has been led by Ed Sheridan.
Holy Cross The Crusaders competed in several events this season with the men placing in the top 10 in two of their six events and the women placing in the top 15 in three of their seven. Paige Sutherland has been the women’s top finisher this season, while Dan Altenau has led the men.
Lafayette The Leopards competed in four events in the Lehigh Valley, with the women winning the team title at the Leopard Invitational. Led by Margaret Bruno-Metzger, they also placed third at the Lehigh Valley Invite and 18th at the Paul Short. Ryan Stasiowski led the men in every event this season.
Lehigh The Mountain Hawks competed in six events this season with both the men’s and women’s top finishes coming at the Lehigh Valley Invitational. The men, led by Evans Kosgei, won the team title and the women, whose top runner all season has been Katherine Pierce, placed second.
Navy The Midshipmen competed in six events this season with both the men’s and women’s teams picking up two first-place finishes. Andrew Hanko, last year’s Patriot League individual champion, has led the Mids all season, and junior Jess Palacio has stepped forward to take the lead on the women’s side.
Patriot League Notebook
Lafayette College to host championships Oct. 30
Lafayette College will serve as the host for the 2010 Patriot League Cross Country Championships for the sixth time in the League’s 20-year history and the first time since 2007. The last time the championship meet ran at Lafayette, American won the men’s title and Bucknell won the women’s title. The women will open the championships with their race at 11 a.m. Oct. 30, with the men’s race to follow at noon. The top-14 finishers in both the men’s and women’s race will be awarded All-Patriot League status, with the top seven being named to the First-Team and the next seven earning Second-Team recognition.
Champions set to defend their individual titles
Both the men’s and women’s individual champions are back to defend their titles in 2010. Navy’s Andrew Hanko and Colgate’s Elise DeRoo are primed to win back-to-back titles, as both have led the League throughout the season.
Hanko, a senior, holds the record for most Runner of the Week awards at 10, seven more than the runner who is in second place. Hanko won the weekly award five times in 2010, breaking his 2009 record of four Runner of the Week awards. He enters the championship meet placing in the top 15 in 11 of his last 12 events. He has placed first in two races this year (Salty Dog Invitational and Army-Navy dual-meet) and he had one runner-up finish at the Harry Groves Invitational. His time of 23:55.27 at the Salty Dog Invitational was a season-best.
DeRoo, a junior, also has an individual title, but her most impressive outings were a second-place finish at the Paul Short Run and a third-place finish at the Penn State Invitational. Both meets featured top teams from around the nation, and at the Paul Short, she set Colgate’s new school record with a time of 20:10, six seconds behind the winner.
Navy men in line for third straight team title
The Navy men were selected to win the Patriot League title at the beginning of the season, and after two months of hard running, the Mids look prepared to defend their 2009 title, which was the program’s second.
American, which was picked to finish second, will challenge Navy for the title. The Eagles have finished in the top three in four of their events this season. Two of those top performances included team titles at the Mount St. Mary’s 5K Duals and the Leopard Invitational.
Women’s championship race set to be a roller coaster ride
Bucknell won the preseason poll’s top spot with 96 points and 12 first-place votes, but it’s starting to look like a much closer competition after two months of running.
Navy, picked second, and Army, third, have run strong seasons — Army edged Navy 26-29 in a dual-meet Oct. 16 — and Colgate, picked fourth, has finished in the top 10 in all four of its events. That includes a 10th-place finish at the Paul Short Run, four spots better than favored Bucknell and 18 spots ahead of Army.
If the Bison can defend their title, they would extend their total team titles to nine, four more than any other program. Bucknell, which won its first title in 1998, has won eight of the last 12 team titles. Despite their team dominance, the Bison have had just one individual in the last eight years.
Navy men, women lead League in Mid-Atlantic polls, Colgate women move up in Northeast poll
The Navy men’s team is ranked fifth in the most recent United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Division I Mid-Atlantic Region poll and the women are ranked seventh to lead Patriot League schools.
Also ranked in the Mid-Atlantic men’s poll are American (seventh) and Lehigh (14th). In the women’s poll, Bucknell sits right behind Navy at eighth, Lehigh is 14th and Lafayette is 15th. The Colgate women moved up to 10th in the Northeast Region.
Patriot League Cross Country Weekly Awards
Male Runner of the Week
CHARLES MURPHY, BUCKNELL So., Short Hills, N.J.
Murphy was the Bison’s top finisher at the Go-Fast River Run at Lock Haven University, placing 10th in a time of 25:31.84.
Female Runner of the Week
ALLISON DONAGHY, BUCKNELL Jr., Colts Neck, N.J.
Donaghy led Bucknell with a ninth-place finish at the Go-Fast River Run at Lock Haven University, finishing in 22.40.84.
Male Rookie of the Week
TYLER ERHARD, BUCKNELL Fr., Millerstown, Pa.
Erhard was the ninth Bison to cross the line at the Go-Fast River Run at Lock Haven University. He finished 32nd in a time of 26:33 in just his second collegiate race.
Female Rookie of the Week
STEPHANIE BRYAN, BUCKNELL Fr., Frederick, Md.
Bryan was third among Bison finishers at the Go-Fast River Run at Lock Haven University, placing 18th in 23:06.
