Mountain Hawks take second at Angry Birds Invitational

Saturday, January 17

10:00 a.m.

Lehigh University

Angry Birds Invitational

Mountain Hawks take second at Angry Birds Invitational

1/17/2015 5:47:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's track and field team finished second in a tight team race at the Angry Birds Invitational Saturday inside Rauch Fieldhouse. Monmouth claimed the team title with 143 points, followed by Lehigh (138), Penn (131) and Saint Joseph's (113). Three first-place finishes highlighted the competition for the Mountain Hawks.

"It was a fantastic meet for the women thanks to the tight team race," said head coach Matt Utesch. "It was very competitive and I'm super happy with a lot of our performances. We had some really good PRs and got some girls back from injury for their first races, so that was great to see."

Sophomore Courtney Avery finished first in the high jump with an ECAC-qualifying leap of 1.70 meters, while junior Gabrielle Wardle followed right behind in second place with a 1.65 meter jump. Sophomore Kiana Wright claimed the long jump title with a 5.34 meter leap. Wright also finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.17 meters.

"Kiana set PRs in both her jumps and has been very impressive so far this season," said Utesch. "I'm really happy to see how she's coming along. Not only did Courtney place first, but she also had some really good jumps at 1.80, which would be one of the top ten jumps in the country, and I expect her to hit that mark very soon."

Junior Arielle Weiner claimed the 5,000 meter run title after crossing the finish line in a time of 18:50.47.

Senior Halie Carter ran 400 meters in 59.86 seconds to claim second place, while freshman Hannah Brosky followed behind in fourth place with a mark of 1:00.23. Senior Jonelle Jerwick placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.45 meters.

Freshman Tyler Scanlin placed third in the 800 meter run with a clip of 2:19.42. Sophomore Katie Hatler was Lehigh's highest finisher in the 60-meter hurdles, placing fourth with a mark of 9.19 seconds.

"Today was Tyler Scanlin's first collegiate race, so it was fantastic to see her do so well," said Utesch. "Some of our middle distance and long distance girls are really coming along well."

The quartet of Carter, sophomore Lindsay Voltz, freshman Amanda Fischer and sophomore Soraya Theard finished second in the 4x400 meter dash with a clip of 4:02.83.

The Mountain Hawks return to action next Saturday inside Rauch Fieldhouse as Lehigh hosts archrival Lafayette in the annual indoor dual meet.

"We gathered a lot of momentum this week heading into next weekend's big meet," said Utesch. "We were sore and tired from a week of camp and I saw the competitive spirit come out in our kids. I'm excited to see what they'll do next weekend with fresh legs and that same competitive spirit."