Bucknell Women’s Track and Field had a fantastic showing at the start of their outdoor season. 

In an exciting performance, Abby Kates ’24 won the high jump to break Taylor O’Brien’s 2019 school record, hitting a 5-7 3/4 mark. Following her were teammates Olivia Boyce ’24 and Madeline Lehker ’26, finishing second (5-5) and third place (5-1 3/4), respectively. 

“The meet this weekend at Susquehanna was an unbelievable start to the Outdoor season,” Kates said. “The team went into this meet with no expectations, especially with the weather. A lot of us got to compete in events that we usually wouldn’t do so it was overall just so fun. Myself and my teammates, Maddie Lehker and Olivia Boyce, pushed each other and finished top three in the High Jump.”

She continued, “high Jump is a very mental event because you are staring ‘personal best’ in the face before you do it, while in other events you don’t know it’s a personal best until after you do it. When I was attempting the school record, it was calming to have a ton of my teammates surrounding the High Jump pit cheering me on. When I hit the mat after clearing a new school record, Coach Ozzie and many of my teammates came running over hugging, jumping and cheering. It was a surreal moment that I will never forget.” 

Additionally, Siobhan O’Sullivan ’24 placed first in the shot put competition, throwing a distance of 43-0 1/4. 

Madison McGloin ’24 also earned first place in the hammer throw with a 162-9 distance, followed by teammate Anne Glenning ’24 (148-7). 

Another first place finish, Tori Chace ’26, finished with a 12:10.36 in the 3000m steeplechase, eight seconds ahead of the runner up. 

Continuing the string of first place finishers was Ally Clarke ’24 (4:51.54) in the 1500m. Mariana Engleby ’24 finished just behind Clarke with a 4:52.16 time to take second place. 

Abby Eisold ’24 earned first place in the 100m hurdles (15.90). 

In the 800m run, Mackenzie Turner ’23 (2:19.46), Abby Paczewski ’24 (2:19.73) and Caryn Rippey ’26 (2:20.02) earned first, second and third place, respectively. 

In the 400m hurdles, Ella Derstine ’25 earned first place (1:05.77), followed by Mikayla Horvath ’23 (1:07.51), Maddy Hippensteal ’24 (1:07.54) and Sarah Durkan ’24 (1:08.20). 

Lauren Shaffer ’26, Rippey, Grace Vives ’26 and Samantha Blackman ’24 teamed up to compete in the 4x400m relay, earning second place (4:17.22). 

Colleen Linko ’24 placed second in the 400m run (1:00.03), Madison Libby ’25 earned second in the long jump (17-4 1/4) and Riley Beebe ’23 earned second in the javelin throw (136-11). 

Jenny Scott ’23 won the pole vault event (11-7 3/4). 

“This weekend was a good start to the spring season despite the really difficult weather conditions our team had to face,” Scott said. “Cold and rainy meets just prove what a resilient team we are, and it makes me super excited for the rest of this season and performances to come. Overall a great spring opener for the men and women!”

Next weekend, the team heads to William and Mary in the Colonial Relays.