Lehigh University
Lehigh Invitational
Women’s Cross Country Takes Top Spot at Lehigh Invitational
9/4/2015 9:42:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh University women's cross country team captured a first place finish in the Division I portion of Friday's Lehigh Invitational on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course. The 2015 season opener saw Shannon Wright lead the Mountain Hawks with a third place finish of 22:45.70. The Mountain Hawks finished with 27 points, a dozen points higher than second place Delaware, who finished with a total of 39 points. La Salle placed third with a total score of 64 to round off the Division I portion of the race. Muhlenberg finished with 21 points to win the non-Division I portion, topping DeSales and Moravian.
Overall, Lehigh placed four racers in the top 10 and six in the top 20. La Salle's Morgan Szekely took home the race's top spot, finishing in 21:44.50, over a full minute faster than the next closest competitor.
"In general it's always good to have a win, realizing that this race for us and a lot of other teams is a race of investigation," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "We're trying to look at what some of our personalities look like trying to race together.
"We had specific race plans of when we were trying to run together and when we were willing to spread apart. I was glad to see some of the things they were told to do, they accomplished," she added.
Marissa Karl added a top five finish for Lehigh by crossing the finish line fifth in 22:55.80. Freshman Stephanie Hayes made her collegiate debut by placing seventh overall, completing the race in 23:03.50. Sophomore Laura Barnes turned in a ninth place finish of 23:10.50. Senior Arielle Weiner (12th overall/23:18.80), freshman Stacie Nadel (15th/23:41.70) and sophomore Sarah Spring (22nd/24:25.60) rounded out the Mountain Hawks' top seven performers.
"I really wanted to see our new people in the mix and what the racing personality of the team was going to look like," Utesch said.
The victory was Lehigh's third first-place performance in the last six years at the Lehigh Invitational.
The Mountain Hawks will have two weeks off before their next meet on Saturday, Sept. 19 when they hit the road for a dual meet at Lafayette in Easton, Pa.
Players Mentioned
