Lehigh University
Lafayette Dual
Lehigh falls to rival in Easton
4/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
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EASTON, Pa. – The Lehigh track and field teams couldn’t spoil the opening of Lafayette’s new track as both teams fell to the Leopards in the outdoor Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet on Saturday. On the women’s side the Mountain Hawks had six winners, but the Leopards were able to win the meet 111-92. The men were a little closer as they fell 106-97 after winning eight of the 19 events.
“Lafayette did a great job on both sides today,” head coach Matt Utesch said. “They opened up their new track and had a lot of alumni back, which gave them a ton of momentum. They did a good job of keeping that momentum throughout the meet and we weren’t able to step up.”
Senior Nick Ray was one of Lehigh’s top performers at the meet, as he won both the shot put and hammer throw. Ray, who set new outdoor personal records in both events, won the shot put with a throw of 54’ 10.25” and the hammer with a distance of 160’ 6.0”.
Ray’s classmate Khalil Uqdah had another strong day in the pole vault, as he won the event with a vault of 16’ 9.25”. Sophomore jumpers Alexander Maurer and Kyle Forrest finished first and second, respectively in the high jump. In the men’s 3000 meter steeplechase the Mountain Hawks took the top three spots as junior Evans Kosgei finished in first and he was followed by freshman Lyle O’Brien and junior Jordan Inacio.
Rounding out the winners on the men’s side were junior Evan Flach in the 1500 meters, junior Stephen Sample in the 5000 meters and the 4x400 meter relay team of sophomore Ifeanyi Edochie, freshman Devin Monroe, senior Phillip Wright and Forrest.
On the women’s side, senior Ashlee Atwell and junior Krista Belick finished first and second in the pole vault. Atwell had a vault of 11’ 3.75 to win, while Belick vaulted 10’ 10”.
Coming off an injury that plagued her during the week, sophomore Alexandra Doersam was able to come out and take first in the long jump with a jump of 18’ 2.5”. The Mountain Hawks kept their success up in the jumps, as they had the top three finishers in the high jump. Senior Catherine Bigelow tied with her classmate Kathryn McLaughlin for first with jumps of 5’ 3”, while junior Abigail Harris-Shea finished second (5’ 1”).
The women’s 4x100 meter relay team of Doersam, sophomore Khaaleedah Smith and freshmen Kristin Slotnick and Melissa Knapp edged out Lafayette for the win.
Rounding out the winners for the Lehigh women were senior Kaitlin Grimm in the 5000 meters (17:51.14) and freshman Elizabeth McManus in the 400 meter dash (59.42).
Even with several strong performances on Saturday Utesch wasn’t happy with the team’s emotion. “For the most part they beat us and we let them. We didn’t show any emotion for the good or bad things that happened. It was a frustrating all around day.”
With two meets this upcoming week Utesch knows both teams have to come out and work hard to get better. “We’re going to have to regroup and act like a family once again. We need to get back to the same attitude we had at the indoor championships.”
The Mountain Hawks will be back in action this weekend at the Bucknell Distance Classic on Friday and the Moravian Invitational on Saturday.
