Men’s Cross Country visited B & D Acres, home course of Saint Francis University, to compete in the Father Bede Invitational this past weekend. The Bison finished with 45 points to place second overall.

The Bison entered this season ranked #10 in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Rankings and are looking to build off a fourth-place finish at the Patriot League Championships last fall. The field at Father Bede included Mid-Atlantic region rivals Saint Francis and Duquesne, who the Orange and Blue will meet again come November.

The men raced the shorter, less traditional 6k (3.75 miles) as they gear up to race 8k (5 miles) and eventually 10k (6.2 miles) as the season progresses. The Bison were led by Ethan Pratt-Perez ’28 who placed third overall in the 64-person field, running 19:07.90, just 5 seconds behind first place and less than a second behind second.

“While I was going up that final hill in the race, I was thinking ‘you did all that work, now finish this last little bit and finish strong,’” Pratt-Perez said.

Pratt-Perez was one of four Bucknell first-year athletes who finished top ten. He was joined by Andrew Young ’28, David Carillo ’28 and Dan Wuenschel ’28, who placed seventh, eighth and tenth respectively. Mason Barlow ’27 rounded out the top five for the Bison with a 21st place finish.

The Bison continue their season on September 6th where they will compete in the Lafayette Invitational.