Lehigh University
New Balance Invitational
Lehigh completes split-squad weekend on track
2/7/2009 8:00:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
 |
NEW YORK/PRINCETON, N.J. – The Mountain Hawks split up this weekend as the indoor track and field teams and coaches tried to divide and conquer two meets on the same weekend. Some of the athletes headed over to the New York Armory, where several Mountain Hawks put up personal records on the fast track, while the rest of the team traveled to the Princeton Open in
“All year our team is working together,” Lehigh head coach Matt Utesch said. “Now we split up for this weekend and it’s just a foreign thing. We just tell them to go run fast times for themselves, but that’s a hard thing to do.”
Still, Lehigh had a strong start to the weekend on Friday evening on the track as a select group of Mountain Hawks athletes competed in the New Balance Invitational at the New York Armory. Senior Sarah Serwo broke the school record in the 1000-meters with a time of 2:55.84, which placed her in ninth place overall as she defeated runners from Duke, Rutgers, Georgetown, Baylor and South Florida along the way.
“This is kind of the weekend where we wanted to turn it up,” Lehigh head coach Matt Utesch said. “We take people to this meet to run fast, and for her to finish ninth against that competition is a pretty good accomplishment.”
The New York Armory has a banked track, which helps make it one of the fastest tracks in the area, Utesch said. It also was Lehigh’s first chance to compete on a banked surface all season, and gave the team opportunities to put up fast times across the board.
Shannon Alejandro (10:07.21) and Katherine Pierce (10:20.73) set personal records on Friday in the women’s 3K, finishing in 12th and 23rd place, respectively.
“We knew Katherine Pierce was good, but she has really become such a great competitor on the track,” Utesch said. “She’s a freshman that’s having success in a distance event, where it usually takes a while to develop, and that’s impressive.”
Ben Lampi (8:30.29), Leo Smith (8:36.87) and Dan DeWitt (8:40.39) set personal bests in the men’s 3K on Friday. The men’s distance runners showed extra guile as they had to be separated from their distance coach, Todd Etters, as the teams were split up at the New York Armory and the Princeton Invitational this weekend.
“They were in places they’ve never been in before and they fought through them,” Utesch said. “It showed that Lehigh track and field is not afraid to challenge those schools.”
On Saturday in Princeton, Megan Hetzel and Elizabeth Robinson finished first and second in the women's mile with times of 5:26.72 and 5:27.78, respectively. Dan McClimon paced a field in which Lehigh earned the top nine finishes in the men's 3,000. McClimon's 8:44.06 finish was good enough to win by more than seven seconds.
Jon Wetzel followed up the strong distance performances on Saturday in New York, with an IC4A qualifying time of 14:42.67, which allowed him to finish second in his heat. The men’s 4X400 team also showed improvement by finishing third in its heat with a time of 3:23.11.
Jen Therkorn established her fastest time in the 500 on Friday crossing in 1:17.34 to finish 22nd, while Kyle Forest set his PR in the 400 on Friday with a time of 51.61, to give the Brown and White eight personal records on the day.
Therkorn and Serwo followed up their Friday performances by joining Alex Neville as three Lehigh runners in the top 30 in the 800 meters on Saturday. Serwo finished 24th, with a time of 2:17.25, followed by Therkorn in 27th (2:15.55) and Neville in 28th (2:18.26).
“I don’t think we were surprised by all the personal records,” Utesch said. “It shows us that the kids are almost ready. They’re approaching the home stretch of the indoor season and we want them to be ready for the Patriot League Championships.”
Lehigh returns to the New York Armory next weekend as they attend the Virginia Duals on Feb. 14.
