This weekend, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Penn State National Open and the ECAC Championship in New York. 

The women’s team finished at the Penn State Open in thirteenth place out of 18 total teams. Keeley Misutka ’25 led the Bison runners on the 6k course and finished 56th (22:06.3) out of 169 total runners. 

“I felt that I ran a good race this past weekend against some strong competition. There’s a lot of depth on this team and we’re peaking at the right time. Coach Donner will have us prepared mentally and physically as we enter the final stretch of the season and look to make some noise at the Patriot League Championships next week,” Misutka said.

“We are in good shape with four different number ones and a lot of consistency from the rest of our top 5-7,” Mia Belluci ’23 said. “We’re going to take training a little easier this week to prepare for the postseason. It’s a very exciting time.” 

Following Misutka’s lead were teammates Abby Paczewski ’24 (61, 22:11.6), Bellucci (64, 22:15.3), Ally Clarke ’24 (77, 22:30.8) and Caryn Rippey ’24 (22:47.5). 

Bucknell’s top eight runners competed at the ECAC, finishing 24 out of 34 teams, ahead of fellow Patriot League teams including Lafayette, Colgate and Loyola. Lauren Trapani ’25 finished forty-ninth overall with a time of 22:30.5, followed by Hollie Walters ’24 (113, 23:10.0), Lauren Joyce ’26 (126, 23:17.9), Meghan Smith ’24 (165, 23:41.3) and Meredith Haberfield ’23 (226, 24:29.6). 

On the men’s side, the Bison finished 21 out of 31 teams at the ECAC, with Harry Marson ’25 at the head of the pack (135, 26:19.1). Henry Didden ’26 (143, 26:22.7), Jeffrey Gibbs ’24 (161, 26:33.3), Christian Cadmus ’24 (166, 26:39.5) and Mason Siebenhaar ’26 (180, 26:46.1) followed. 

Back at the Penn State Open with the men’s top runners, Sam Whittaker ’23 led the Bison men’s team again as he secured 18th place (25:49.5) out of 162 runners. Out of 14 teams, the Bison finished in 10th place. Other runners that land a top 100 spot included Bobby Lynam ’25 (54, 26:37.6), Ben Santos ’25 (67, 26:52.9), Domenic Campagna ’23 (79, 27:05.9), Noah Martin ’23 (87, 27:13.5) and Grayson Crockett ’24 (91, 27:17.1). 

Both teams will compete at home this weekend, on Oct. 21.