The Bison men and women track teams hosted the Gulden Invitational at Gerhard Fieldhouse on Jan. 20. The Orange and Blue took the overall win, with the men winning six events and the women winning five. The meet included eight teams from DI, DII, and DIII programs.

Kaitlin Salisbury ’20 was the standout female competitor, earning MVP field honors as well as qualifying for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in the long jump event. She was one of six female athletes who qualified for the ECAC. Salisbury said that she will continue pushing herself to beat records both in sprinting and long jump.

“Qualifying for ECAC’s was a relief for me. I’ve been kind of hitting a slump with my marks and constantly fouling on good jumps. Then I finally landed one where I hit everything just right. I am aiming for the indoor record in long jump now,” Salisbury said. “After our meet at Penn State two weeks ago, we needed to refocus on the little things. When we did that you could see it follow through in this meet.”

The men’s team had five members qualify for the IC4A’s. One of the standouts was C.J. Falcioni ’20, who came in second for the 35 lb. weight throw with a toss of 54-04 ½. It was a new personal best.

“I knew I was going to PR this weekend after having a good practice this Wednesday. I was throwing really far that practice,” Falcioni said.

Ever since the Gulden Invitational format was changed to a scored meet in 2012, the Bison men have enjoyed success, winning the title every year.

Head coach Kevin Donner gave his thoughts on the results of the meet.

“I was very pleased with how our men’s team performed. It looks like our technical events are starting to develop after the long break, and it was good to be in a scored meet,” Donner said. “Our depth enabled us to win both meets handily. We do need to get some of our hurt people back in the next week or two if we want to be ready at leagues.”

Next up for Bison track and field, a group will travel to compete in the Penn State National Invitational, while another group will remain in Lewisburg to host the Bison Open. Both meets are set for Jan. 26-27.