The men’s cross country team placed second in the Patriot League Championships on Nov. 1 as the Orange and Blue began their postseason run, recording the best showing for the Bison since their second-place finish in 2001.

The Bison traveled to Lehigh to compete in the conference championship race. While the squad battled with a rain-soaked course and tough opponents from the other Patriot League teams, as a group it finished as runner-up, tallying 76 points. The Bison trailed only Navy on the day, which totaled 30 points for the victory.

The Orange and Blue were able to score as highly as they did due to a couple very strong individual performances. While a Navy runner won the race in 23:57.0, Michael McGowan ’15 and Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 recorded second- and third-place finishes with times of 24:05.2 and 24:07.0, respectively. They both placed on the First Team All-Patriot League as well, with McGowan being awarded the honor for the second year in a row.

“Overall I was very happy with the end result and the team’s performance. Ever since my freshman year, when we had four freshmen in the top-seven and we finished fifth, we were always looking for more, but we could never get to the League Championships healthy. This year we got there, and the result shows,” McGowan said.

John Dugan ’15 was also honored with a place on the Second Team All-Patriot League. After being a member of the First Team All-Patriot League in 2012-13, Dugan was forced to miss last year’s championship race due to an injury. This year, he took 13th place in the field.

“Navy has an excellent team this year and they ran like it, but I hope that this race will be something for the team to build on for the next few years and that Bucknell will continue to be in the title hunt,” Dugan said.

The final Bison honored was Will Bordash ’18. Bordash placed 26th overall, which put him in place as the first first-year overall to finish in the meet. He was awarded Patriot League Rookie of the Year, an honor which excites fans of the Orange and Blue for the future of the team.

“We certainly would have liked to come away with the win, but I’m proud of how the rest of the guys competed. Michael McGowan and Andrew Garcia-Garrison were both tremendous. Will Bordash ran a strong race to win Rookie of the Year, and Luke Giugliano ’17 stepped up and had his best race ever,” Dugan said.

Giugliano rounded out the top five for the Bison with a 39th place finish. His performance, along with his teammates, propelled the team past third-place Army in the points to take home a runner-up trophy for the Orange and Blue. The team will continue its postseason competition on Nov. 14 when the Bison compete in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships at Penn State.