Sports Home • Today at BU • BU Home • Alumni • Admissions • Academics

After posting a strong fifth place finish at the PSAC championships in 2002, the Bloomsburg University women's cross country team heads into 2003 with an understanding of its potential.

The Huskies return six runners from last season's squad that missed being a national qualifier by one place after finishing fourth in the region. There has been a great deal of enthusiasm in the pre-season camp according to head coach Karen Brandt.

“The team is very upbeat as to what they can accomplish,” said Brandt. “I would say they are coming at the season with a lot of positive enthusiasm that started with how well they ended last season.”

Leading the Huskies once again this season will be standout Danielle Kramer who received All-American honors in track in the spring. Kramer has been training hard all summer and returns focused and ready to go.

“Each season we've worked with her she becomes more focused on her goals, more knowledgeable about the sport, and more determined to be the best that she can possibly be.”

Behind Kramer, the Huskies will look to returners Amanda Pisano and Mary Bacher who each turned in excellent seasons last year.

“They (Pisano and Bacher) are working extremely well together in practices,” said Brandt. “The are pushing each other with a friendly yet intense competitiveness.”

The Huskies will also look towards a pair of freshman to come in and make an immediate impact. Sarah Bounds of Shippensburg and Karen House of Central Columbia have been running not very far off Pisano and Bacher according to Brandt.

“Sarah is really looking strong and has moved quickly to the front among the freshman,” she said. “Karen is not that far off Bounds, she's a very strong runner.”

Brandt has been impressed with the work ethic her team showed in the off-season workouts and is overly excited to get the 2003 campaign underway.

“They seem to have made the shift from a group of people who run to being runners and as a whole we seem to have shifted from being a team of runners to being a solid program,” she said. “When we (coach Jim Brandt) came to Bloomsburg in 1999 we predicted it would take three to five years to turn things around. As we embark on our fifth season, we know we have not only turned the corner, but are charging down the road to success.”