April 29, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior Jason Rechel (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), a 2007 Honorable Mention All-America selection and a member of the Bison men's water polo team, received a special award at the University's annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Bison Club and held in Sojka Pavilion on Tuesday, April 29.

Rechel won the Lee S. "Bud" Ranck Award, presented to senior athletes "for outstanding spirit and contributions to the Bucknell athletic program." Rechel shared the award with Krista Lee Gentile of the women's soccer team, who was the female selection.

In addition to Rechel, several other student-athletes were honored at the banquet, including the winners of the Christy Mathewson Award, given to the most outstanding athletes in the senior class.

Rechel, the team's Scott Schulte Award winner, became the second consecutive Bucknell player to earn Honorable Mention All-America plaudits, following Mark Masterson. Additionally, he was named First Team All-CWPA Southern Division, his second career all-conference nod.

A team co-captain in 2007, Rechel posted team highs in goals (70) and points (102), the first Bison to reach those milestones since 2000. He also added 32 assists to stand second on the team and finished his career with 169 goals, 96 assists and 265 points. He came up just 15 goals, 29 assists and 47 points shy of joining Bucknell's career top-10 lists in those categories. No player has joined any of those lists since Kevin Permisohn in 2000.

Rechel, a two-time member of the all-tournament team at the Eastern Championship, was also Bucknell's top sprinter for the third consecutive year. He won 52 of 106 sprints and finished with 169 sprints won in his career. Additionally, Rechel was strong on the defensive end with 34 steals, which ranked tied for fourth on the squad. He wrapped up his four-year career with 116 steals to rank eighth in Bison history.

A player who improved his offensive game every year, Rechel had a standout senior campaign, scoring at least one goal in 30 of 33 games, including a seven-goal outing against Johns Hopkins in late October. The seven goals were the most by a Bison since 2001. Overall, Rechel posted 17 multiple-goal games.

Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,400 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 13 of 17 years, including nine of the last 10.

Recently, 17 Bison programs - the seventh-most in Division I - earned NCAA Public Recognition for having Academic Performance Rates in the top 10 percent nationally in their respective sport. In addition, Bucknell ranks fifth in Division I in the total number of CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, with 114 national Academic All-Americans since 1970.