Jon Bucknam - Drew University

Athlete Spotlight

Jon Bucknam - Senior - Drew University

Since the Landmark Conference began competition for the 2007-08 academic year, there has been one near constant in the sport of men's lacrosse: Drew's Jon Bucknam scoring goals and producing points for the Rangers' attack, and thus helping the team earn victories.

As a precocious sophomore, the Flemington, N.J. native led the Landmark in goals and points per game, producing a Landmark record 46 goals, while adding 28 assists for 74 points. For good measure, he posted a game-high three goals and five points as Drew fought past Goucher to claim the first Landmark Conference Championship.

The pressure to repeat that performance didn't seem to faze Bucknam in his junior campaign, as he helped Drew finish the year 9-8 overall and earn its second Landmark postseason appearance with a 4-2 conference record. There were more goals, 41 this time which again was the highest total in the conference, and more points, as he added another 20 assists for 61 points which ranked second in the conference. For good measure he led the Landmark with four game-winning goals, feat he also repeated after tying for the top spot in that category as a sophomore.

As he had been as a sophomore, he was picked as a first-team All-Landmark attacker. And he entered his senior season as the Landmark leader in career goals, career assists and career points.

He's been a winner on the field as Drew has posted a 9-3 record in Landmark play during his two seasons, earning one Landmark title and achieving a 20-15 record overall. The winning has also extended to the classroom where the economics major earned a spot on the Landmark All-Academic Team last spring and has earned Dean's List and Academic Honor recognition multiple times

Yet despite all the success his senior year looked like it might be one of his toughest. Bucknam was the only returnee among the six Drew players to earn All-Conference honors last season. The Rangers lost significant portions of their starting lineup, and entering the 2010 season, Bucknam was no longer the precocious youngster, he was the veteran leader trying to make sure Drew remained among the most successful programs in the Landmark.

So far, the 2010 results have been favorable. Drew is 3-2 in the early season, and that youthful roster has not caused them problems in close games as they have twice pulled out overtime wins among the first five games, one of them an upset of 12th-ranked St. Lawrence.

And while some of the faces him around him have changed in his senior year, Bucknam is doing exactly what has been the norm for him over the first two years of Landmark play. The senior currently ranks among the conference leaders in points per game, and is first in assists per game. So while much may have changed over the Landmark landscape in the past two-plus years, there is one thing in the sport of lacrosse that remains very much the same.