jkrun80
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10-24-17 08:41 PM - Post#234481
Here is a great PLN feature on Chrissy Bendzinski. Yet another reason to be proud of Bucknell STUDENT-athletes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-HVBwCJpjM
The first sports championship of the year will be decided at Lehigh on Saturday. Bendzinski is the defending champion and the Bison are favorites to win. It won't be a blowout like last year. We're relying on a couple of freshman to step up and score which is always risky. Navy, Army, Boston, and possibly HC could push Bucknell.
Navy's a heavy favorite for the men, but their race should be closer this year as well. Like last year it will be close for 2-6 between American, Army, Bucknell, Boston, and Lehigh.
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Bison137
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10-24-17 09:11 PM - Post#234482
In response to jkrun80
Are the injured runners all back?
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jkrun80
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Age: 65
Reg: 05-07-12
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10-24-17 09:22 PM - Post#234484
In response to Bison137
Siciliano is borderline, but everyone else is healthy.
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KenZ
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Reg: 01-23-06
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Re: PL Cross Country 2017 10-25-17 10:25 AM - Post#234512
In response to jkrun80
The first sports championship of the year will be decided at Lehigh on Saturday. Bendzinski is the defending champion and the Bison are favorites to win. It won't be a blowout like last year. We're relying on a couple of freshman to step up and score which is always risky. Navy, Army, Boston, and possibly HC could push Bucknell.
are we really absolutely reliant on freshman? top 3 are Bendzinski, Buckley and Farmer. after that it would seem like we have a lot of runners in the mix including the freshman. of the frosh, my inexpert assessment would be that Blair is the only one who has performed consistently at the longer 6k distance although Hunt, Payton-Capes or Tardy could break through. however, we have Chiodo-Ortiz, Thompson, Gronbeck and other older runners who could easily take the scoring spots in pretty good positions to secure a team victory.
surprised Lehigh isn't a threat for the title. young team, but Henderson can pop off a big race and they look like they have brought in a lot of good runners the last couple of years.
jkrun is our expert, so all my thoughts should be taken as a couch potato's perspective in compparison to his and i'd encourage him to correct my inaccurate perceptions.
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Bison137
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Re: PL Cross Country 2017 10-25-17 11:21 AM - Post#234528
In response to KenZ
The first sports championship of the year will be decided at Lehigh on Saturday. Bendzinski is the defending champion and the Bison are favorites to win. It won't be a blowout like last year. We're relying on a couple of freshman to step up and score which is always risky. Navy, Army, Boston, and possibly HC could push Bucknell.
are we really absolutely reliant on freshman? top 3 are Bendzinski, Buckley and Farmer. after that it would seem like we have a lot of runners in the mix including the freshman. of the frosh, my inexpert assessment would be that Blair is the only one who has performed consistently at the longer 6k distance although Hunt, Payton-Capes or Tardy could break through. however, we have Chiodo-Ortiz, Thompson, Gronbeck and other older runners who could easily take the scoring spots in pretty good positions to secure a team victory.
surprised Lehigh isn't a threat for the title. young team, but Henderson can pop off a big race and they look like they have brought in a lot of good runners the last couple of years.
A couple of questions/comments:
1. Lehigh had three runners in the top ten at the PL meet last year - but two have graduated. Young team but may be a year away.
2. Henderson ran very poorly for LU at Penn State two weeks ago. JKrun, is she coming off an injury? The Bison finished way ahead of LU in that meet - and would have still been way ahead even if Henderson had finished in the top group.
3. Tardy hasn't run a meet for the Bison since 9/23. Assume there have been some injury/health issues. In HS, she was a good cross country runner but a GREAT middle distance runner. Ran 4:55 indoors in the mile as a HS junior and 2:09.6 in the 800. Both times would be well up there on the all-time Bucknell Top Ten list.
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jkrun80
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Re: PL Cross Country 2017 10-25-17 06:48 PM - Post#234621
In response to Bison137
137 is right that Lehigh does not have the depth this year. The 4th and 5th runners are the key in XC. I don't know what the story is with Henderson. She ran well early in the season, but bombed at PSU. If it was just a short term illness, she'll be right up front. If it's something more serious, Lehigh will be in the bottom half of the race. Don't think racing at home will help them much. I don't know Tardy's status. My day job has kept me tied up and I haven't spent much time around the team.
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Bison137
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10-26-17 12:24 PM - Post#234663
In response to jkrun80
It appears Tardy is still out. Bucknell lineup for tomorrow listed as Christine Bendzinski, Ashley Blair, Colleen Buckley, Payton Capes, Anna Chiodo-Ortiz, Emma Cousins, Jenna Farmer, Lauren Gronbeck, Madeleine Hunt, Christine O'Kane, Lindsay Schafer, Margaret Thomson. Three freshmen: Blair, Capes, and Hunt.
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jkrun80
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10-28-17 04:16 PM - Post#234902
In response to Bison137
Women won their 3rd straight PL title today. Bendzinski repeated as individual champion with Buckley finishing 3rd. Some disappointing individual performances, but Anna Chiodo-Ortiz had a breakthrough race as Bucknell's 5th runner.
http://www.bucknellbison.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_O...
The men were a disappointing 5th again this year. Drew Dorflinger struggled the last mile and fell (literally and figuratively) back several spots in the last 400 meters. Chad Sussman had his first bat race of the year and didn't score. Third was definitely within reach if those two run up to their ability. One bright spot was one freshman (McMenniman) and four sophomores in the top 7.
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KenZ
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10-29-17 11:34 AM - Post#234921
In response to jkrun80
congrats to Bendzinski and the women's team on defending their championships. nice fot the team to be able to win on a day when in the words of Coach Donner "it was not one of our better team races." next year will be tougher as Bendzinski graduates and Army brings back all of their scorers.
definitely disappointing on the men's side. apparently Dorflinger was sick which explains his breakdown at the end of the race; have to give him credit for gutting it out and doing as well as he did.
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KenZ
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11-10-17 12:27 PM - Post#235805
In response to KenZ
Chrissy Bendzinski finished fourth in regionals qualifying for nationals. great performane and very good to see after she was sick on day of regionals last year which probably cost her qualifying then. women's team finished 8th.
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KenZ
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PL Cross Country 2017 11-10-17 01:04 PM - Post#235810
In response to KenZ
and Buckley also makes All-Region team finishing 21st in a strong race.
Farmer, Gronbeck and Chiodo-Ortiz round out our top five. not reviewing all the results, but think it likely this was Gronbeck's best performance of the year.
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jkrun80
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11-10-17 09:14 PM - Post#235859
In response to KenZ
Amazing performance by Bendzinski. Definitely Gronbeck's best race of her career after a poor showing at leagues. All of the top 5 dropped significant time from the league meet on the same course. Thomson had an off day, which was the difference between 7th & 8th as a team. Very solid race against really tough competition.
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