This weekend will be one of the busiest of the year for Lehigh’s athletic teams. The action will get underway on Thursday and Friday night as the Mountain Hawks wrestling and men’s basketball teams tangle with Big Ten conference opponents.
Lehigh welcomes the Michigan Wolverines to Bethlehem for a nationally ranked wrestling showdown Thursday night at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The second ranked Mountain Hawks are 4-0 on the season in dual meets and are looking for their second straight victory over a ranked Big Ten opponent. Lehigh defeated No. 17 Penn State on Sunday to claim first place at the inaugural Penn State Dual Championships. This is the first meet of the season for the No. 6 Wolverines, who were 17-3 in dual meets a year ago and placed tenth at Nationals.
Sunday, Lehigh defeated
York, Pitt-Johnstown and Penn State to claim the inaugural Penn State Dual Championships. The event, hosted by Penn State was open to all college teams in the state of Pennsylvania. Lehigh posted commanding victories over York and UPJ before beating Penn State 24-15 in the Finals, to win the crown. The tournament win was Greg Strobel’s second regular season tournament championship (2002 Virginia Duals).
The Wolverines lead the All-time series 20-10. The last two years saw Lehigh win in Ann Arbor and Michigan triumph in Bethlehem. Michigan had won six in a row over the Mountain Hawks before Lehigh’s 18-12 win last season.
The Lehigh men’s basketball team opens its 2004-05 season on Friday evening as the Mountain Hawks take on Big Ten and in-state foe Penn State. Lehigh is coming off one of its most successful seasons in school history, which ended with a Patriot League Championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Mountain Hawks return four starters from last season’s team and welcome in four very talented newcomers as well. Lehigh is 1-1 under Billy Taylor in season openers and 0-2 in road openers under its head man.
Lehigh and
Penn State have hooked up 39 times in the past with the Nittany Lions winning 28 of those contests. The last game, which was played in Happy Valley, came on December 5, 2001 and saw Lehigh battle tough, trailing by just three points at halftime before falling 61-48. Matt Crawford led the Mountain Hawks with 12 points and nine rebounds, while the Nittany Lions received 20 points from Sharif Chambliss on 6 of 8 shooting from the floor. Current Mountain Hawks Nick Monserez and Dayne Mickelson competed in the game also.
Lehigh has not defeated Penn State since a 79-72 victory in Bethlehem on December 7, 1987 in which Daren Queenan, Lehigh’s all-time leading scorer, scored 31 points, including the 2,000th of his illustrious career.
Although Lehigh and
Penn State have hooked up 39 times all-time, the Mountain Hawks have played several other Big Ten opponents over the years, with the last game coming in 2002 when the Brown and White traveled to Champaign, Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini in Assembly Hall. In front of almost 12,000 people the Mountain Hawks fell by a score of 90-56, as Matt Logie scored 18 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Lehigh has also taken on Iowa twice (1985 and 1993) and the Wildcats of Northwestern once (1992).
The weekend kicks off with the wrestling match, Thursday night at
7:00 at Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The match will be televised live on Service Electric 2 Sports. The basketball game gets underway at 7:30 on Friday night, and will be televised live on WFMZ-TV. Both events will also both be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320, as well as on the web at lehighsports.com.
Wrestling Photo copyright (c) 2004, Lehigh Athletics/Jeff Nolan
Basketball Photo copyright (c) 2004, Lehigh Athletics/Chris Christian
