Lehigh University Athletics
Men’s Cross Country Begins Preseason Workouts
8/18/2015 5:30:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Looking to build on its success in recent years, the Mountain Hawks men's cross country team began preseason workouts this past Saturday in preparation for the upcoming 2015 season.
"What I've seen is the team is very unified already," said head coach Todd Etters, who enters his eighth season at the helm of the program. "It's amazing what social media does because they do a whole bunch of stuff over the summer so they stay connected."
The team welcomes four newcomers to this year's squad, which will help fill the void left by six departed seniors from last season, including NCAA Championship qualifier Ryan Mahalsky. Senior Sean Burke is pleased with the way the team has come together so far through the first few practices. Burke was Lehigh's second highest-finisher at the 2014 Patriot League Championships and placed fifth at the Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet.
"It's awesome seeing all of the guys in here," Burke said. "We met once over the summer for a weekend where we had everyone together, but getting the chance to run with everyone for 10 days uninterrupted without any classes is really nice."
Etters believes that most of the pressure on the incoming freshmen will be the pressure they put on themselves.
"We don't put a lot of pressure on our freshmen," Etters said. "So what I want to see them do is just come in and take note of what the upperclassmen are doing. Try to learn our program, the ins and outs, and the performances will come. For now it's just about adjusting and getting comfortable."
This year's Patriot League Championships will be hosted by Colgate, the same venue where the Mountain Hawks captured the 2012 conference title. Burke and the others hope that is an omen of good things to come.
"I know our team wants to contend for a Patriot League Championship," he said. "Especially since the last time we won it was at Colgate, which is where we're going to be at again this year so I think a lot of the guys kind of have that mentality like it's our time to do it again. If we focus on our team first mentality and run as a pack the whole season I think we have a real good shot."
"I think we've set the trend the last couple of years where right away we want to compete for a championship," Etters added. "I think it's realistic enough though we've lost some really key players. We've had some guys that have really been itching to get some higher profile roles on our team, so I expect those guys to capitalize on it. The long term goal is to win, so everything we do is in preparation for that."
The Mountain Hawks open up the regular season on Friday, Sept. 4 by hosting the Lehigh Invitational on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course. Lehigh will also host the Paul Short Run on Friday, Oct. 2.
