Friday, February 17
Lewisburg, Pa.
12:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
vs
Patriot League Championships
Astor, Utesch win awards; Lehigh women 3rd, men 4th at PLCs
2/17/2013 10:44:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Lehigh track and field teams captured two major awards as the Patriot League Indoor Championships, which wrapped-up Sunday at Army's Gillis Field House. Junior Brooke Astor was named Field Athlete of the Meet and head coach Matt Utesch was named Coach of the Year for the women, who finished third, while the men finished in fourth place.
“We're very proud of what we did, especially on the women's side,” said Utesch, who earned his third Coach of the Year award and his first for women's indoor track. He previously won the award for men's indoor in 2001 and for women's outdoor in 2003. “We had a ton of champs and All-Patriot League selections, especially in the relays but eventually came up a little short. I would trade the Coach of the 
Year awards to get into the top two. It was a stellar performance, we just came up a little empty at the end.
Year awards to get into the top two. It was a stellar performance, we just came up a little empty at the end.Utesch continued, “Our men showed a ton of promise. Justin Mahoney ran well and our relays; the 4x800, distance medley and the 4x400 all ran very well. We showed a lot of promise and proved that there's a lot to look forward to.”
Astor won the women's indoor pentathlon on Friday and added a second place finish in the 60 meter hurdles on Sunday with a time of 8.87 seconds.
The Mountain Hawks won three events through the first two days of competition and added two more first place finishes on Sunday. Junior Jessica Kendzor was one of three Lehigh runners to score points in the 800 meters, winning the event with an ECAC-qualifying time of 2:13.67. Seniors Julia Perry and Kathleen Ryan finished in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Lehigh's senior quartet of Lauren Pietrosh, Ryan, Kendzor and Perry won the distance medley relay with a time of 12:06.50, good enough to meet the ECAC qualifying standard.
Perry also led Lehigh in the mile, finishing third overall with a time of 5:03.25 to score six team points. Junior Danielle Albergo finished third in the 400 meters, with a time of 57.80 with sophomore Halie Carter finishing sixth in the same event with a time of 59.37.
Lehigh placed three runners in the top 15 of the 1000 meters with Lauren Pietrosh leading the way placing fifth at 2:57.82. Sophomore Serenah Polite posted a pair of top five finishes, taking third in the 60 meter hurdles in 9.15 second and finishing fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 11.17 meters.
On Saturday senior E'Lana Lemon earned first team All-League honors by winning the weight throw, while the quartet of Perry, Kendzor, Brittany Pietrosh and Lauren Pietrosh won the 4x800 meter relay to earn first team All-League honors as well.
Lehigh entered the final day of competition less than two points behind Bucknell and finished less than four points behind Navy, which finished second to Bucknell. The Bison won their second straight championship with 162 points, while the Mountain Hawks bested Army by 22 points for third.
On the men's side, Senior Devin Monroe led the Mountain Hawks on the final day of competition, winning the 200 meter dash and placing third in the 400 meters.
Monroe posted an IC4A qualifying time of 22.02 to take the 200 for Lehigh's second men's individual title of the championship meet, after coming out of the unseeded heat. He added six team points with his third place finish in the 400 with a time of 49.57 seconds.
Junior Martin Otieno finished fourth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.02 seconds and finished sixth in the 200 with a time of 22.52.
In the shot put, senior Chris Buck met the IC4A qualifying standard with a distance of 15.76 meters.
Lehigh placed four runners in the top ten in the 800 meters, led by sophomore Daniel Paez, who placed sixth with a time of 1:56.16.
In the relays, Lehigh's 4x400 team of Monroe, Otieno, Chris Watson and Justin Mahoney finished fourth with a time of 3:21.27, while the distance medley relay team of Kenneth Wilkinson, John Ciavardelli, Stephen Keith and Simon Voorhees finished third with an IC4A qualifying time of 10:18.19.
Lehigh finished in fourth place with 70 points at the championships, 42 behind third place Army. Navy and Bucknell were the top two squads on the men's side with the Mids winning by a 204.50-182 margin.
The Mountain Hawks will return to action in two weeks at the IC4A Championships in Boston, Mass. March 1-2.
Women's Final Standings
1. Bucknell (162 points)
2. Navy (110)
3. Lehigh (106.33)
4. Army (84.33)
5. Holy Cross (74)
6. Lafayette (47.33)
7. Colgate (36)
Men's Final Standings
1. Navy (204.50 points)
2. Bucknell (182)
3. Army (112)
4. Lehigh (70)
5. American (17)
6. Lafayette (15)
7. Colgate (14)
8. Holy Cross (5.50)
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