Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh and Lafayette set to meet Friday
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
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“This meet carries a lot of tradition,” said head coach Debbie Utesch. “It is a meet that is important to us because it allows us as a program to contribute to the tradition and to represent those that wore the Lehigh colors in the past.”
In last year’s competition, the Lehigh men nearly scored a perfect 15 points for what would have been a third year in a row. However,
The competition was close on the women’s side, with the Mountain Hawks squeezing out a 25-32 victory. Lehigh’s Andrea Luebbe and Sarah Seiler took first and second place before Lafayette would place three runners in third, fourth and fifth places. The Mountain Hawks sealed the victory when Carolyn House, Shannon Alejandro and Jen Filiberto finished sixth, seventh and ninth places, respectively.
“With the men, we’ve been fortunate to have won the meet for the last seven years and we would like to continue that streak,” said Utesch. “
Continues Utesch, “Every year, the women’s race is a great one no matter what uniform you’re in. There are not many dual meets that exist in college cross country. This is a meet where you can forget about times and just focus on head-to-head competition.
Coming into Friday’s meet, both men’s and women’s squads from both schools have each secured a victory under their belt. Both of the Mountain Hawks’ men’s and women’s teams swept the competition at the Lehigh Valley Cross Country Championships on September 1. Lehigh’s men took nine of the top 10 spots and were led by a solid pack of four runners—the race’s winner Jared LeBar (26:03.8), Victor Vientos (26:04.1, second), Sean Swift (24:04.5, third) and Brendan Glover (24:04.9, fourth). The Mountain Hawk women took seven of the top 10 spots with race champion, senior Jenni Schappert leading the way. The Leopards opened the season at the Colgate Invitational where both teams narrowly beat out the competition. The women scored 25 points in the competition, edging out Navy who had 26. The men scored 23 points, just three points ahead of
While the Mountain Hawks had the last week off, both teams earned a bit of recognition from the United States Cross Country Coaches Association this past week. Both teams were selected to the top 10 of the Mid-Atlantic Regional preseason poll. The women were picked ninth while the men were selected to finish 10th.
“This has been the first time the women’s team has been in the top 10 of the preseason ranking,” said Utesch. “We’ve finished the season there, but never really started it. For the men, they’ve been in the top 10 in various years. But the thing is that polls are polls. Until you toe the line, you don’t know what’s going to be offered. However, I think both teams are wanting to improve on their ranking.”
For the Lehigh-Lafayette dual, the gun is set to go off at 5:00 pm for the women and 5:45 for the men on the Goodman Campus.
