Patriot League Cross Country 2017

Why is this league so bad? Like if I were to advise someone that could probably barely run D3 but has their mind set on D1, I would suggest that they try to run at almost every single college in this conference.

Regional Qualifiers for East Coast Mid-Majors:

League Men's Qualifiers Women's Qualifiers Men's Members Women's Members

America East 14 18 9 9

Atlantic-10 18 17 12 14

Big East 15 20 7 8

MAAC 13 5 7 8

NEC 6 5 9 10

Patriot League 21 13 9 10

The back-end of the Patriot League is not very good. But the front end is very comparable with other mid-major conferences like A10 and Big East that don't get nearly as much hate

The League is definitely looking more wide-open than in the last two years. In 2015 and 2016 the battle for second has been super close after Navy domination. This year Navy loses some of its biggest guns, and I think the playing field is leveled a bit.

My instinct is that Bucknell will be a team to watch this year, even without Guigliano. Boston and Lehigh should also expect to be giving the academies a run for their money. Who knows what will happen at American after the coaching switch.

The bottom of the League is harder to predict. Word on the street is that Lafayette may have yet another new coach. I wonder if they'll have much of a team.

The individual title will almost certainly be Paul Leuvano's to lose, unless someone with a breakout season has something to say about it.

Does Bucknell give many scholarships? What do you think are there requirements for 12 and full ride? How about for other schools in the conference?

Patriot league is a poor man's ivy league

bucknell does not give men's scholarships

bucknell alum wrote:

bucknell does not give men's scholarships

Thanks - I guess I won't return that questionnaire. LOL

These are the team scores and individual with selected track PRs if you take out seniors from last fall's PLC XC meet.

1) Boston U 57 points

1. Paul Luevano 3:47/14:08 3k indoor/5k outdoor Champ

3. Alexander Seal 3:42 1500 Champ

14. Brett Davidson 14:23/30:11

15. Greg Pelose 4:10 mile

24. Johnny Kemps 4:05 mile

34. Zachary Prescott 15:22

40. Ian Anderson 9:10 3k

2) Bucknell 63 points

5. William Bordash 3:55/14:33

10. Drew Dorflinger 3:49/14:18 5k Indoor Champ

11. Jacob Stupak 14:52

17. Chad Sussman 4:00 1500/ 15:16

20. Zachary Williams 9:11 steeple (no results this year)

26. Ben Siciliano 15:13

37. Brian Dengler 15:07

3) Navy 65 points

4. Jake Brophy 4:12/8:20

6. Kevin Murray 14:46

7. Cory Donley 3:51/4:08

18. Gabriel Collison 14:35/30:14

30. Michael Karls 4:16 mile

42. Jacob Shewbert 4:11 mile

Only 6 underclassmen ran at PLCs last year.

4) Army 80 points

2. John Valeri 3:48/14:31

9. Robert Santoyo 8:20/14:20

19. Nickolas Causey 1:49/3:51

22. Keagan Smith 3:45

27. Benjamin Petrella 8:21/14:33

33. Alexander Tosi 9:22 steeple

41. Connor McDonald 8:49 3k

5) Lehigh 86 points

8. Patrick Reilly 14:26/30:06

12. Matthew Kravitz 1:52/4:08/14:37

13. Jeffrey Kirshenbaum 14:42

21. John Tolbert 3:56/8:29

25. Sam Layding 14:39/30:44

31. Ryan Grace 15:07

35. Christopher Mascetti 3:56

6) American 147 points

16. Matthew Rainey 1:52/3:49

23. Alaeldin Tirba 3:50/8:18

29. Benjamin Doiron 3:52/14:30

36. Thomas Sommer 4:01 1500/15:16

43. Liam Purdy 1:51/3:51 800 champ indoors

Sam Layding of Lehigh also did not have any results this track season

My initial impression is that Boston should be considered a solid favorite. Their track times indicate that they underperformed last year at the league meet. Bucknell looks to have done the opposite, as other than Dorflinger, their track times were not nearly as good as their XC performances. Army also performed much better on the track this year. The league meet is at lightning-fast Lehigh this year, which should bode well for the mid-distance oriented teams (Army, Boston, American) and hurt Lehigh and Bucknell (though home course advantage is valuable for Lehigh).

Bucknell appears to be the deepest team in the mix, which is always valuable in XC. Boston, Army, and American all see big drop offs after their 5th runners and will need their top 5 to stay healthy to have a shot at the win.

Navy is a wild-card as they have traditionally been an excellent XC team and are one year removed from a nationals berth. It will be interesting to see how they rebound from the loss of so many key seniors.

American was not a factor last year, but their track times suggest that they should be able to contend. Centrowitz's replacement will have his/her cut out for him/her.

Bucknell is the clear favorite with the return of Murray for his 5th year and final cross season

Holy Cross looking to make some big moves this summer with a well-defined training plan from Head Coach Jim Kavanagh - he has not provided any sort of instruction to his runners since outdoor season ended. Keep your eyes peeled for some big performances from the Wormtown boys

Women's race preview?

You heard it here first: Bison triple crown round 2

Say Goodbye 2 Oxygen wrote:

Women's race preview?

Bucknell returns:

1. Christine Bendzinski 4:19/16:37 (Defending Champ)

2. Colleen Buckley 16:29/35:23 (10k Champ)

10. Anna Chiodo-Ortiz 37:40

11. Margaret Thomson 10:57 steeple

14. Jenna Farmer 16:55

19. Christine O'Kane 17:36/37:15

32. Lauren Gronbeck 16:52

No other teams look particularly close

Bendzinski vs Buckley vs Maura Henderson (double 5k and steeple champ) will be a great individual battle.

Indoor 5k

1 1 Henderson, Maura SO-2 Lehigh 16:41.56 10

2 2 Buckley, Colleen SO-2 Bucknell 17:04.09 8

Indoor 3k

1 1 Bendzinski, Christine JR-3 Bucknell 9:27.37 10

2 2 Henderson, Maura SO-2 Lehigh 9:27.43 8

4 4 Buckley, Colleen SO-2 Bucknell 9:43.38 5

Outdoor 5k

1 1 Henderson, Maura SO-2 Lehigh 16:37.34 10

2 2 Buckley, Colleen SO-2 Bucknell 16:55.52 8

XC

1 Bendzinski, Christine JR-3 Bucknell 5:39.8 21:07.0 1

4 Buckley, Colleen SO-2 Bucknell 5:47.6 21:36.2 4

5 Henderson, Maura SO-2 Lehigh 5:48.3 21:38.6 5

Coming off a big year and on her home course Henderson's a lock for the top shot

***spot

Sam Layding is soft