LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Tigers returned to action for the first time in the new semester Saturday, taking part in the Gulden Invitational on the campus of Bucknell University. The Tigers finished fifth out of six teams while facing some top competition, finishing the meet with 59 points.

Duquesne won the meet with 172.5 points while host Bucknell finished second with a team score of 154.5. St. Francis (Pa.) was third among competing institutions.

"It was about what I expected," Towson Head Coach Roger Erricker said. "We would've liked to do a little better. It's a barometer for where we are. I was more pleased with our effort this year in this meet than with last year's result." 

Junior Katie Salke finished in second place in the 60-meter hurdles for Towson, timing an impressive 9.06 seconds finish. Salke was also strong in the triple jump, finishing in third place with a 11.10-meter result.

Senior Erika Griffith finished in fifth place in the 3,000-meter run for the Tigers. Her time of 10:31.44 was over a second faster than the sixth place finisher, Shippensburg's Katrina Spratford.

Shianna Smith and Shannel Shivers were impressive in the weight-throw and shot-put events for the Tigers. Smith's throw of 17.44-meters in the weight throw was a dynamic result, while Shivers also placed fourth with a 15.87-meter toss.

Smith (eighth), Shivers (fifth) and Melissa Shirley (ninth) all finished in the top ten in the shot-put event.

The Tigers will next compete at Delaware Jan. 28 beginning at 10 a.m.