BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh’s men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams were swept by Lafayette at the annual Lehigh-Lafayette Dual that was held at Rauch Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Mountain Hawk women fell by a score of 101-80, while the men dropped a 92-89 decision in what was the first scored meet for Lehigh this season. Lehigh had five first place finishes on the women’s side, while the men recorded first place in seven events.
“We had 22 freshmen that we made work, fight and scrape for every point,” said head coach Matt Utesch about the women’s team. “It was a true character building meet. Lafayette will have their hands full in the future with the ladies that we have on this team now. They have traditionally beat us at the duel meet and we beat them at the Patriot League Championships—where it matters.”
Continues Utesch about the men’s team, “I’m disappointed that we lost because I do not like losing. It is so early in the season in the way we train and peak our guys. Lafayette’s solid performance will help at the Patriot League Championships because they will take points away from Army and Navy. Today’s loss only served to make us more hungry.”
Sophomores Lindsay Corbetta and Sarah Serwo and freshmen Ashlee Atwell and Kaitlin Grimm all earned first place finishes as well as the 4x800 meter relay team. Corbetta’s time of 1:02.52 in the 400m dash was .22 of a second faster than Lafayette’s Meredith Cohen. Serwo won the 500m dash (1:19.98), while Grimm took the 3000m run in a time of 10:37.52. Atwell jumped 10’9½” (3.29m) in the pole vault. It was the third meet this season in which Atwell was the top Mountain Hawk finisher in the pole vault. The 4x800m relay team finished in a time of 9:58.40, which was 27 seconds faster than Lafayette.
Freshman Franklin Johnson was the only Mountain Hawk to take first in multiple individual events. The Arlington, Texas native won both the long jump (22’6½” or 6.87m) and the triple jump (45’10” or 13.97m). Also finishing first for Lehigh’s men were seniors Kevin Ahearn (1:07.62 in the 500m dash) and Kyle Manning (1:56.65 in the 800m dash), junior Brian Voorhis (6’¾“ in the high jump) and freshman Khalil Uqdah (13’11¼“ in the pole vault).
The Mountain Hawks return to action next weekend when they host the Lehigh Multi-Event on Friday and the John Covert Classic on Saturday at the Rauch Fieldhouse. Friday’s meet is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm while the John Covert Classic will start at 9:00 am with the multi event, 12:00 pm for the field events and 1:00 pm for track events.
