Lehigh University
IONA Meet of Champs
Lehigh finishes sixth at Iona Meet of Champs
9/18/2010 10:59:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
BRONX, N.Y. – The Lehigh men's cross country team raced to a 12th-place finish out of 19 teams at the Iona Meet of Champions on Saturday morning. Senior Evans Kosgei was the Mountain Hawks' top finisher in 18th place overall with a time of 25:45 in the 8K race. Senior Andrew Jervis, junior Evan Flach and freshman Jimmy Miller also placed in the top-75 in the field of 207 runners.
La Salle took first place at the meet, while Penn, Albany, Brown and Harvard rounded out the top five in that order. The Brown and White registered a team score of 257, just 21 points shy of breaking into the top ten.
"A result like today tells us that we still have work to do," head coach Todd Etters said. "Some of our top guys didn't run as well today, but I was also pleased that other guys were able to step up, like Jervis and our freshmen."
Running in his first meet of the season, Kosgei finished less than a minute off the pace set by race-winner Eric Finan of Cincinnati. Jervis finished the race in 43rd place with a time of 26:13.5, which was 29 seconds quicker than his time at the 2008 Iona Meet of Champions as a sophomore. Flach (52nd place) also improved upon his previous meet best with a time of 26:17.2, over a minute faster than his time in 2008.
"Evans went and ran with the top guys today," Etters said. "He's right back where we need him to be this season."
Freshman Tyler Mueller posted another strong finish on Saturday, placing 79th in his first collegiate 8K, while junior Dan Soltan crossed the finish two spots after Mueller in 81st.
"I couldn't be happier with the freshmen," Etters explained. "Both Jimmy Miller and Tyler Mueller showed up very well today, and so did our other freshman, Sam Bernitt, who ran in our top seven in his first collegiate race."
The Brown and White will be back in action next Saturday at the Lehigh-Lafayette Dual in Easton, Pa. The men's race is set to begin at 10:10 a.m.
