Both the Bison men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain, Mass., on Sept. 21 to compete at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown, hosted by Boston College. In a field composed of numerous nationally ranked college teams, both teams struggled to make an impact.

Among the few Bison standouts on the course, Colleen Buckley ’19 displayed a strong showing after missing the first two races of the season due to injury. Buckley hit her stride and finished 24th in a pack of 218 runners. She was the fastest finisher among the Patriot League schools that competed in the Coast-To-Coast Battle in Beantown.

“As leagues grows closer, I’m focusing a lot on keeping healthy through taking care of the details. Our base of training was done in the summer, so now it’s time to fine-tune with some quicker workouts, making sure to get a lot of sleep, eating right, and doing plenty of stretching and mobility work,” Buckley said. “I’m trusting in my training, but going the extra mile (no pun intended) to make sure I feel good come race day.”

Joining her teammate in the top 100 was Margaret Thomson ’19, who placed 78th among the 218. Three other runners scored at 101st, 128th, and 137th, respectfully.

Head coach Kevin Donner was not as pleased with the overall team score but discussed the importance and experience learned from this highly competitive meet.

“I thought we got some valuable experience, even though I was hoping for a lower score and a better team place,” Donner said.

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, the Bison finished 12th overall among the 23 teams that competed. Their top runner was Connor McMenamin ’21, who clocked in as the fastest male runner for the Bison for the third meet in a row. The Orange and Blue had four runners in total in the top 100 places and two more finished in the top 150.

As the Bison take the lessons that they learn from this meet, they are inching closer to the coveted Patriot League Championship Meet next month. The women’s team is the reigning champion and the men’s team will look to be competitive after finishing in fifth place last year at the Leagues meet.

The Bison teams will run next on Sept. 29 when they compete at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University.