Category: Sports

Categories
Sports Track & Field Women

W. track wins close contest

 Lauren Boone

Staff Writer

The Bison women’s track and field team traveled to Ohio to compete in the Youngstown State Invitational, where two school records were broken and a victory was claimed. Caroline Tolli ’13 rewrote the record books in the 1,000 meter, while Sasha Hornock ’13 registered a new best in the 60 meter race. The Orange and Blue were victorious by just 0.16 points.

Tolli led the competition in the 1,000 meter event, claiming first with 2:50.88. Close behind Tolli was runner-up Hana Casalnova ’14 with 2:54.22.

The Orange and Blue stole two additional individual wins. Katie Jessee ’15 won the 5,000 meter with 17:42.36, while Jennifer Zymet ’14 claimed first in the 500 meter with 1:16.06.

On the field, Yanelis Mestre ’15 posted a career best in the pole vault event. She tied for fifth, clearing a height of 11-5.75. In the long jump, Olivia Massey ’13 and Alyssa Cardillo ’14 took fourth and fifth place, respectively. In the weight throw, Abby Monaghan ’13 claimed fourth.

After the first day of competition, the Bison collected a total of 85.5 points. This put the Orange and Blue in the lead by 12.5 points over Dayton, who stood in second place.

The next day of competition proved just as successful for the Bison. Hornock set a new record in the 60 meter with 7.74 seconds, while Tolli claimed another first-place finish in the 800 meter with 2:13.17.

Kim Nagotko ’15 was the runner-up in the 200 meter event with 25.13. Beth Braunegg ’14 claimed second place in the mile with 5:01.12. Montana DiPietrantonio ’15 took the bronze in the 3,000 meter event with 10:14.91. Finally, the 4×400 relay team finished third with 3:52.45.

The Bison ultimately reigned as victors with a lead of less than one point over Duquesne.

“The team had a good meet overall. We were able to beat Duquesne, which shows how much we have improved as a team this season. We had previously lost to them by over 30 points. We are looking to use the momentum of this meet for the Patriot League Championships in two weeks,” Hornock said.

The Orange and Blue will compete in their last meet before the Patriot League Championships at the Bucknell Winter Classic Saturday in Gerhard Fieldhouse.

Categories
Basketball Men Sports

Johnson tops record, helps sink Navy

 

Conor Pierson | The Bucknellian Bryson Johnson '13 shoots the ball over a Navy defender in the Bison's 69-54 victory over the Midshipmen. Johnson lead the team with 20 points.
Conor Pierson | The Bucknellian
Bryson Johnson ’13 shoots the ball over a Navy defender in the Bison’s 69-54 victory over the Midshipmen. Johnson lead the team with 20 points.

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

Bryson Johnson ’13 broke the Bison record for three-point baskets in a career and tallied a season-high 20 points to lead the men’s basketball team to a 69-54 victory over Navy. The Orange and Blue improved to 19-4 overall and 6-1 in league play, while the Midshipmen fell to 7-16 (1-6).

Johnson came into the game needing just one basket to break the record, and he wasted little time, hitting his first three-pointer of the night 57 seconds into the contest for his 295th career three-pointer.

“I never really thought about any records when I first began here, but as I got closer, people kept mentioning it. It was something that happened because I have great teammates who are unselfish and get me open looks,” Johnson said.

Johnson hit another three shortly after his first to give the Bison a 6-2 lead, and after his fourth three of the night, he extended the lead to 19-8.

“I think early on we did a good job throwing it inside and our bigs did an even better job passing back out to the perimeter when the zone collapsed on them, and that gave the wings open looks from the outside,” Johnson said.

Three-point shooting was just part of the story in the Bison’s performance. The Orange and Blue used their size advantage to out-rebound Navy 47-20, led by Mike Muscala ’13, who tied his career high with 19 rebounds to go along with 11 points in 25 minutes of game time. Eleven of the Bison’s 47 rebounds came on the offensive glass, giving them 17 second-chance points.

“Bryson [Johnson] got us started early on with a ton of threes. It was nice to see him break the record in front of the home crowd,” Muscala said. “After that I think we all played our roles well, hitting mid-range jumpers, driving in the lane and then rebounding our misses and converting them into second-chance points.”

The Orange and Blue extended their lead to 16 in the first half before Navy went on a mini-run to end the half to cut the lead to 34-22 at halftime. After Navy scored the first basket of the second half, the Bison went on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 22. The run began on a driving layup by Cameron Ayers ’14, who was fouled on the shot and was able to complete the three-point play.

The bench also provided a major spark in the second half as the Bison continued to build up their lead. Ben Brackney ’14 hit Ayers for a wide-open three that made the score 53-31 with 7:56 left, and finished the game with four points. Chris Hass ’16 contributed six points, and Cory Starkey ’15 contributed four points and four rebounds. Brian Fitzpatrick ’13 provided tremendous hustle and rebounding, and put in an emphatic dunk off a great pass from Johnson to give the team a commanding 57-35 lead with 6:51 to play.

After struggling from the line in previous matches, the Bison shot an impressive 16-19 from the line. The Orange and Blue also shot 46.9 percent from the field, and 7-19 from three-point range, led by Johnson’s 6-10 shooting from beyond the arc. On defense, the Bison held Navy to 31.7 percent shooting from the field.

“We did a good job getting out and pressuring their perimeter players because they have a lot of shooters, so we tried to force them to take shots inside the arc and try to make them uncomfortable while running their offense,” Johnson said.

The Bison return to action Saturday, travelling to West Point to kick off the second half of league play against Army. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“Army is a tough place to play on the road and they play really fast, so in front of their home crowd, they can really get the momentum in their favor with a couple easy hoops in transition,” Johnson said. “It will be a good test for us and we will have plenty of time to prepare for them with no midweek game this week, so we are looking forward to it.”

Categories
Basketball Sports Women

Women’s basketball flounders at Navy

Ajan Caneda

Senior Writer

After staging two consecutive second half comebacks, the women’s basketball team couldn’t replicate the same performance against Navy, suffering a 61-40 defeat in Annapolis, Md. on Feb. 2. The Orange and Blue dropped to 13-9 overall, finishing the first half of Patriot League play with a 4-3 conference record.

Turnovers hindered the Bison in the first half as they gave up the ball six times in the first 10 minutes of play. The Orange and Blue did most of their scoring outside of the paint with all five of their three-pointers coming in the first half, including two from Katherine Harris ’15. Unfortunately, Navy kept pounding the ball inside, outscoring the Bison 22-10 in the paint. The score was 36-27 at the break.

“In both of our last two games we’ve dug ourselves a hole at the beginning that proved too hard to get out of. Both American and Navy pressured us and forced us into making more turnovers than we would like to at the beginning of the game,” Harris said.

Navy eventually regained a 10-point lead early in the second half, but the Bison were determined not to let the game slip away from them, as forwards Felicia Mgbada ’13 and Lindsay Horbatuck ’13 scored consecutive baskets to trim the lead to six. After a Navy three-pointer, the same duo scored two lay-ups to make it 41-37 with less than 10 minutes left in the game.

Mgbada scored the Bison’s final points on a lay-up, as Navy’s defense held the Orange and Blue scoreless in the last 7:27 of the game.

Horbatuck recorded her 13th career double-double and her 30th career double-digit rebounding game with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Audrey Dotson ’15 had nine points and six rebounds, while Shelby Romine ’14 finished with eight points and five rebounds. Harris and Mgbada scored six points each.

Points in the paint and points off turnovers stifled the Bison offense as they were outscored 32-20 and 16-4 in those categories, respectively.

“The good thing is that now we have a week to prepare ourselves for the second round of Patriot League play. Now that we have seen every team once, we know we need to focus on the little things and make sure we are coming out completely prepared to go up against what every team is going to throw at us,” Harris said.

The Orange and Blue will look to gain back some momentum, as they host Army tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Categories
Men Sports Wrestling

Wrestling demolishes George Mason

 

Estie Pyper | The Bucknellian Stephen McPeek '14 tries to pin his opponent in one of the wrestling team's recent matches. The Bison defeated George Mason 21-12 in their home match last Saturday.
Estie Pyper | The Bucknellian
Stephen McPeek ’14 tries to pin his opponent in one of the wrestling team’s recent matches. The Bison defeated George Mason 21-12 in their home match last Saturday.

Billy Tyler

Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s wrestling team earned a 21-12 victory against George Mason, where the Bison got ahead early and never looked back in Davis Gym.

The Orange and the Blue took the first seven bouts of the match and a 21-0 lead. All seven bouts were won by decisions and included notable victories by Paul Petrov ’16, Corey Lear ’13 and Joe Stolfi ’15.

Petrov, in the 133 lb. bout, fell behind and entered the third period trailing 5-1. He put on a remarkable performance in that third period, going 9-1 and sealing the 10-6 victory. Lear, ranked 17th in the country in the 165 lb. weight class, won his team-high 19th match of the year against George Mason, shutting out his opponent 6-0. In the heavyweight bout, Stolfi won handily by a score of 5-1. This victory extended his win streak to eight consecutive bouts.

Other notable wins for the Bison include Robert Schlitt ’16 in the 174 lb. weight class with a 6-4 decision, Robert Marchese ’16 in the 184 lb. class with a 5-2 victory, Tyler Lyster ’15 in the 197 lb. class with an 8-2 victory and Austin Miller ’15 in the 125 lb. class with a 7-4 comeback victory.

The next match for the Bison will take place on Friday at 5 p.m. in Davis Gym. They will take on Penn College of Technology and Lock Haven in back-to-back matches.

Categories
Sports

Bison Athlete of the Week: Lauren Perry ’15

 

The Bucknellian Archives
The Bucknellian Archives

Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

Lauren Perry ’15 has been one of the stars of the women’s swim team this season. She is coming off a three-win weekend against Lehigh, and has already set a school record for the 200 freestyle.

Perry came into this season after being named to the All-Patriot League First Team last year. She was the first first-year, along with teammate Tara Boyle ’15, to make the First Team for the Bison since 2004. Despite a pair of losses by the team to start the season, Perry came out strong, recording a win in the 200 free against UConn and Fordham. Perry also contributed wins in the 100 free and 100 fly in a victory against Lafayette. At the Bucknell Invitational, Perry put in a strong effort in the 200 free to get a first-place time of 1:51.34, the best time in school history. 

Perry started off the new year by recording wins against Binghamton and Army to lead up to her performance last week against Lehigh. Perry swam three wins in the 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly, and played a huge role in the team’s 184-102 victory. After swimming fly just three times this season, Perry’s time was only 57.65 seconds.

“Our team has done a really great job staying focused the past few meets and this is something we should continue as we head into championships,” Perry said. “I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Look for Perry and the rest of the women’s swim team to compete in the Bison Invite this weekend.

Hometown: Syracuse, N.Y.

Major: Undeclared

Top 50 free time: 23.85 seconds

Top 100 free time: 51.93 seconds

Top 200 free time: 1:51.34 seconds (all-time school record)

Top 100 fly time: 57.65 seconds

Wins this season: 11

Categories
Beyond the Bison Sports

Beyond the Bison: Sports News Across the Nation

 

Courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsRay Lewis has been a polarizing figure for most of his career. Superbowl XLVII will be his last game before retirement.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Ray Lewis has been a polarizing figure for most of his career. Superbowl XLVII will be his last game before retirement.

Julian Dorey

Writer

“Clarifications”

On Sunday, win or lose, the greatest linebacker to ever set foot on a football field will walk away from the game once and for all.

Ray Lewis has no need for regrets. He did it his way. Through all the ups and downs of his 17-year career, Ray was Ray. To many in the general public, Lewis was real. Amid all his high-level play and his incredible wisdom that he imparted onto others over the years, Lewis stood up to and defeated the most difficult opponent a man could ever face. Himself.

With Lewis’ retirement set to happen late Sunday night, many football fans have decided to bring up his infamous involvement in events surrounding a double homicide in January of 2000. For the record, charges of murder were dropped against Lewis, and the two other men originally accused of the crime were both acquitted. Unfortunately, when your name and “murder” are stated in the same sentence, the stigma will forever be there.

I believe the entire ordeal was the greatest thing to ever happen to Lewis. He was a young and talented, yet reckless and self-destructive star in the NFL. He gave everything he had when playing football, and did not seem to care about his reputation or the consequences of his actions off the field.

“You don’t want to be Ray Lewis when he was 27,” Lewis said.

While Lewis was suffering through the process of clearing his name in the murder investigation, he looked in the mirror. He didn’t like what he saw, so he decided to change. He decided that what was done was done. He knew his reputation in the eyes of some could never be fixed, but he also knew he could make a positive difference in the lives of everyone he encountered from that point forward. 

He opened numerous charity organizations. He took his team’s home city, Baltimore, a community mired in poverty and crime, under his wing. He took it upon himself to mentor every single young player that walked into the Ravens’ locker room. And he did all this while becoming the face of the NFL, a Super Bowl champion and the greatest linebacker in the history of football.

You can say that Lewis’ past makes him a questionable figure. Heck, you can say whatever you want. But in this country, the last time I checked, the law states that someone is innocent until proven guilty. The prosecution didn’t even try to prove Lewis guilty.

Lewis’ personal battle against himself has served as an inspiration to millions of people. That is what I’ll remember most about Lewis after he walks away from the game in less than 48 hours. Lewis’ legacy truly has no need for clarifications. The facts are there, and so is a great man.

Categories
Sports Swimming & Diving Women

Women’s swimming dominates

 

The Bucknellian ArchivesSwimmers line up in preparation for a race. The Bison had 10 individual victories against Lehigh.
The Bucknellian Archives
Swimmers line up in preparation for a race. The Bison had 10 individual victories against Lehigh.

Katherine Harris

Writer

The women’s swimming and diving team gave a strong performance on its Senior Day meet, decisively ousting Patriot League rival Lehigh 184-102.

The Orange and Blue hosted Lehigh on Jan. 26 for the second-to-last meet of their regular season. Six of the Bison women, Lisa Bolle ’13, Anna Griest ’13, Morgan Oxley ’13, Elizabeth Porcellio ’13, Kelly Purcell ’13 and Marisa Taddeo ’13, were recognized before the meet.

“Lehigh is a strong team and we handled the challenge well as a group. In addition, it was a great way to send out our senior class since this meet served as our senior recognition day,” head coach Dan Schinnerer said.

The honored seniors performed strongly, with Oxley and Porcellio both a part of the relay team, along with Emma Levendoski ’16 and Emily Wright ’14, that won the 200 medley. Levendoski also had two individual victories of her own in the 100 back and 200 back.

Lauren Perry ’15 posted three victories. She won the 100 free with teammates Wright and Kaitlyn Utkewicz ’14 following close behind her for a top three Orange and Blue finish, as well as the 200 free where she blew the field away by 3.96 seconds. She finished with a victory in the 100 fly, a race she swam only three times this season.

“I was pleased with how I swam this weekend and I am excited to see what the championship meets will bring,” Perry said. “I think the team needs to continue to stay focused and maintain a positive attitude going into the rest of the season.”

Other notable performances for the Bison included Emily Norton ’15 with victories in the 100 breast and 200 breast, as well as Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 taking first in the 1,000 free and second in the 500 free. For diving, Katie Hetherington ’15 won the three meter board, while Tara Boyle ’15 took the one meter board with a career best score of 251.18.

“As we close out our season and work towards out championship meets in February and March, we continue to focus on improving in the details of our swims and dives. With more rest and less intense practices, we expect our team to sharpen their skills and peak for the championships,” Schinnerer said.

The Bison will finish out their regular season this weekend by hosting several opposing teams for the Bison Invite starting Saturday at 10 a.m.

 

Categories
Men Sports Swimming & Diving

M. swimming comes out on top against PL rival Lehigh

Emily Evancho

Contributing Writer

At the men’s swimming and diving meet, both teams brought home the gold for the Orange and the Blue with a victory of 175-118 over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Orange and the Blue also celebrated Senior Day by honoring the five senior men.

Among the most impressive competitors for the Bison was Ben Seketa ’15, who won first in the 100 breast and 200 breast, marking his third time championing in both events. Tim Perley ’15 and Sam Mackie ’16 also claimed top spots in both events. Mike Nicholson ’14 came in first for both the 100 fly and 200 fly. Will Rappaport ’16 continued to excel for the Bison as the first place finisher in both the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.

“I think we dominated from beginning to end and were able to improve from our previous meet against Army,” Perley said.

The Bison diving team also performed well, with Tyler Wenzel ’16 claiming his own victory in the one-meter. Wenzel also took second off the three-meter.

“I was happy with how I dove, but there are still personal improvements to be made on the three-meter board,” Wenzel said. “I feel the team came together and performed well overall to show that we are where we need to be going into the post season.”

The Bison look to continue their winning ways Saturday at the Bison Invite.

Categories
Men Sports Track & Field

Joseph leads men’s track & field

Thomas Walter

Staff Writer

Leonard Joseph ’13 became the most decorated Patriot League field athlete of all-time with an exceptional performance at the Bison Open & Multi this past weekend. Robert Yamnicky ’13 also helped set the pace for the Bison at the Gerhard Fieldhouse, while Kevin Tapper ’15 led the Orange and Blue at the Penn State National Invitational.

At Penn State, Tapper recorded a victory in the 500 meters with a time of 1:04.28. Back in Lewisburg, Yamnicky took home the gold medal in the mile with a time of 4:21.38.

However, the weekend belonged to Joseph. At Penn State, he threw for 65.75 feet. It was Joseph’s first throw longer than 64 feet, and it was also the second longest throw in Bison history. He finished second in the meet, but was first among all collegiate competitors.

Joseph also won the Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week award for his performance this past weekend. It was the eighth time he won this award in his career, passing former Bison standout Tyler Hoffman’07 and making him the most decorated Patriot League field athlete in history.

“[Tyler] Hoffman was a great thrower and it is an honor to say that I have surpassed him in that area,” Joseph said.

“Lenny Joseph has really worked himself into one of the best hammer throwers in the nation with virtually no prior experience. He came into school as a discus thrower,” head coach Kevin Donner said. “He has put himself in the position where he is one of the elite Patriot League Athletes of all time and now one of the top throwers in the country.”

With Patriot League Championships only two weeks away, Donner is excited about the championship, but he points out that the team will need to stay healthy to compete.

“We need to live clean and try to avoid getting sick or hurt. It comes down to the little details from putting time in the training room to even stretching and eating well, which contribute to the body being 100 percent for competitions,” Donner said.

The Bison will return to competition this weekend as they travel to the Youngstown State Invitational.

Categories
Sports Track & Field Women

Women’s track claims three wins

Edward Louie | The BucknellianAbby Monaghan '13 hurls a weight. Her 3rd place finish made her one of the top performers for the Bison.
Edward Louie | The Bucknellian
Abby Monaghan ’13 hurls a weight. Her 3rd place finish made her one of the top performers for the Bison.

 

Lauren Boone

Writer

The Orange and Blue split their forces between the Bison Open & Multi and the Penn State National Invitational, with standout performances including the Bison claiming fifth in the distance medley relay, Kim Nagotko ’15 taking first in the 200 meter finals and Justine Schnell ’15 winning the 5,000 meter event.

At the Penn State National Invitational, the distance medley relay team shined, finishing the race in 11:50.29 to take fifth place. Nagotko posted a time of 25.27 in the 200 meter, beating her personal best of 25.59 set the previous day.

“Running on Penn State’s banked track showed us the times we were capable of reaching and gave us the confidence needed to keep moving forward with our season. It was also a great experience to compete with such highly skilled athletes as they showed us that we were not only able to compete with them, but also beat them … This past weekend was a great indicator that we are capable of claiming [a Patriot League Championship],” Nagotko said.

At the Bison Open & Multi, Schnell took first in the 5,000 meter event (18:20.31), making it the first win of her career.

Emily Ando ’14 won the pole vault by clearing the 11-7.75. Beth Braunegg ’14 also achieved a victory with a career best 2:53.03 in the 1,000 meter event at Penn State.

As a result of her performance, Braunegg was deemed the Patriot League Track Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career. Her times in the 1,000 meters and distance medley relay stand within the top five in the program record books.

Like Ando and Braunegg, Leah Goeke ’13 took first place in the 1,000 meters at home with  3:09.28, making it her first victory of the season.

The Bison will be back in action at the Youngstown State Invitational this weekend.