March 2026 Alumni Update

Bison,

I spent this past weekend wondering about excellence. I was at Boston University for the Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championships, there to watch Bucknell's finest throwers, jumpers, vaulters, and runners compete, the latest generation to do so in the modern history of Bucknell Cross Country and Track & Field, going back to our time half a century ago, the latest generation to aspire to excellence in our sport. As I walked about the infield of the track, and I walked about the throwing venue, I felt the excellence of our team all around me, athletes etching their names into the Bucknell record books, leaving their marks among those set throughout our history, driven by an inexplicable force deep within them to throw, jump, vault, and run better than they ever had before, competing with fire in their eyes in the rarefied world of track & field for their team and for themselves, striving for excellence.

What compels the pursuit? What is it, deep within, that drove Alexandra Lea '28 in the 400, Wade Shomper '26 in the shot put, Caryn Rippey '26 in the 5000, Jeffrey Cianfrocca '26 in the high jump, Grace Camerlingo '29 in the 60, Grace Vives '26 in the mile? What compels the ferocity that drove Katrina Torelli '27 to push back in the mile, that drove Kailey Granger '27 to push back in the 3000, when rivals tried to shove them off the track? What compels the confidence that drove Katie Moncavage '28 to hold her poise while anchoring the 4x800 relay, when another runner streaked by in the first 200, and Katie reeled in the runner in the next 400, certain she could. What compels the audacity, the freshmen who wouldn't be intimidated, that drove Raygan Lust '29 in the 400, Ethan Fianko '29 in the 400, Madeline Kerr '29 in the 4x800 relay, Jordan Muraglia '29 in the long jump? What compels the willfulness that drove Carter Paul '27 to go with a sudden surge in the mile off a 2:11 first 800, negative split by 14 seconds with a 1:57 second 800, and finish in 4:08, a personal best?

And what compels the resilience of the pursuit? What is it, deep within, that drove those who didn't meet their expectations on the first day of a meet to come back the second day adamant to attain what they couldn't the day before, transforming disappointment into strength? There are two kinds of champions--those who win when they should have won, and those who lose when they should have won and fight back the next time to win. Victory is often thought of as coming in first. But if resilience is also victory, then Bucknell had many champions in this meet, Kerry O'Day '28 in the 3000 among them.

Much has been said in recent years about the culture of Bucknell Cross Country and Track & Field having changed from our days half a century ago. Maybe it has in some ways. The question of what our culture was like half a century ago was asked of me at the end of my talk with the team in January. I did my best to answer, but the answer was so vast, I fell short. We were a blue-collar, working-class, chip-on-our-shoulders, upstart, gray sweats team, half of a fight looking for the other half, grateful for what little we had, hungry for so much more, with a coach to match. We were insular to a fault, training together, competing together, rooming together, studying together, socializing together, even sitting together at the same tables in the dining hall. Our sport defined us, again to a fault.

As said, some say the team culture now isn't the same. Again, maybe that view is true in ways, certain expectations on the edges, different from ours. Our culture was by no means ideal, by the way. But when it comes to what's essential--the aspiration to excellence--the culture hasn't changed. It's not a perfect replica of ours, and thankfully so. But it hasn't changed in what it believes is most important, which is to excel. I've been around its throwers, jumpers, vaulters, and runners enough in recent years to believe so, been in enough conversations with them, witnessed enough of their passion, their elation over success, their despair over failure. The excellence our All-American two-mile relay pursued and attained in 1976, is the excellence our All-American Evie Bliss '27 pursued and attained in the javelin nearly half a century later in 2025, and is the excellence this team pursued and attained at the Patriot League indoor championships this past weekend in 2026. I saw fire--not in everyone on this team, but in enough on this team to be defining of this team; enough to be a direction, if not yet a destination, for this team. I saw us in them. I saw one team, then, now, always. I was, and am, proud.

--Robert Braile '77