April 29, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior Offeibea Hanson-Hall (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle), an All-Patriot League and All-East track and field performer, received a special award at the University's annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Bison Club and held in Sojka Pavilion on April 29.

Hanson-Hall won the `Ray Bucknell Diversity Award, presented to the senior student-athlete "who through his/her actions has worked to eliminate attitudes and actions that have separated, excluded or marginalized people in the past and has facilitated true understanding and recognition among multiple campus and Lewisburg community constituencies.."

In addition to Hanson-Hall, 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. Rowing All-American Katherine Brewster-Duffy, won the women's Mathewson Award, while four-time All-Patriot League honoree Jason Buursma of the baseball team won the men's Mathewson Award.

A middle-distance runner for the Bison, Hanson-Hall ranks seventh all-time in the program's record book for the indoor 800-meter run (2:14.56), is eighth on the outdoor list (2:13.08) and is a member of six top-10 relays.

As a freshman in 2004-05, Hanson-Hall took fifth in the indoor 800 at the Patriot League Championships and was an ECAC indoor and outdoor qualifier as a part of the 4x800 relay squad for the Orange and Blue.

She garnered All-League and All-East recognition as member of Bucknell's 4x800 relay as a sophomore, a team that won and broke the Patriot League record at both the indoor and outdoor league championships, while also placing fourth in the 800 at the league meet indoors.

In 2006-07, Hanson-Hall helped the Bison 4x800 claim another first-place finish at the league meet indoors and qualify for the ECAC Championships in both seasons, while scoring in two individual events at the PL Championships, the indoor 1,000 (third) and the outdoor 800 (fourth).

During her final indoor season this past winter, Hanson-Hall collected All-League first-team honors once again as a part of Bucknell's Patriot League champion 4x800 and distance medley relay teams, both which qualified for the ECAC Championships. She scored in the 1,000 for a second straight year, as well.

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.