Lehigh University Athletics
Cross country set to run at the PL Championship
10/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh football will not be the only team traveling to Colgate on Saturday as the Mountain Hawk cross country teams will be gearing up for the Patriot League Championship. All of the league’s top runners will make the trip to Hamilton, N.Y. for the most important meet of the season. Both Lehigh teams are looking to improve on their third place finish in 2008.
“Team wise we’re expecting to finish anywhere from second to fifth,” men’s coach Todd Etters said. “Navy is the team to beat and the rest of the teams will be battling it out to come out on top.”
“We have a very hungry team that is ready to reverse how we raced at the Lafayette Invite,” women’s head coach Debbie Utesch added.
At the start of the season neither team had a clear cut front-runner and now two months into the season a few candidates have jumped out to the front.
On the women’s side sophomore Katherine Pierce has followed up a successful rookie season with three top-ten finishes and she was the Mountain Hawks’ top finisher in the 36th annual Brooks Paul Short Run.
“Pierce has proven that she is one of the top runners in the league as a sophomore,” Utesch said.
Another women’s runner to keep an eye on is senior Kaitlin Grimm who put together a solid season after battling with injuries the past few years.
“Kaitlin is going to surprise some people,” Utesch said.
On the men’s side junior Steve Sample has put together a strong fall with two first-place finishes. All-League honoree from last season Evans Kosgei returns to challenge for a top spot.
“We had three runners on the All-League teams last season and I don’t see any reason why we can’t do it again this year,” Etters said. “Evans is returning and I expect Sample to be up there.”
Both teams have had two weeks off since the Lafayette Invitational in which the men’s team came in second and the women finished fourth. Coach Utesch said her team was disappointed at how they ran at the meet and they plan on turning things around this weekend.
“The Lafayette Invitational was a much needed wake up call,” she said. “I think it was good timing, it gave our team two weeks to refocus. We’ve had tremendous efforts at practice and we are back on track with our goals.”
The two teams have been training hard for the past two months and are ready to put everything together this weekend.
“We’ve come together as good as any I’ve ever been a part of,” Etters said. “The team is ready to get it done for each other.”
“We’ve seen a lot of juggling in our top-7 positions this season,” Utesch added. “It’s a good thing because it gives us more depth as we move forward. As I’ve said already the Lafayette Invite was a wakeup call and it showed how important it is to work together.”
The men will kick the championship off at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and the women will hit the starting line at noon. Check back to Lehighsports.com for all of the latest news surrounding the races.
