Lehigh University Athletics
Friday, September 4
5:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
vs
Lehigh Invitational
Mountain Hawks Geared Up for Lehigh Invitational
9/3/2015 1:37:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's and women's cross country teams will open up the 2015 season on Friday evening at the Lehigh Invitational on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
The pair of 6K events are slated to begin with the men's race at 5:30 p.m., where the Mountain Hawks will be joined by La Salle, Moravian and Muhlenberg. The women's race will follow at 6:15 p.m., featuring Lehigh, Delaware, DeSales, La Salle, LIU-Brooklyn, Moravian and Muhlenberg.
Both the men's and women's teams have received the third highest ranking among Patriot League institutions in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Preseason Regional poll, with the men ranked 11th and the women coming in 14th. Both teams have also been picked sixth in the Patriot League Preseason rankings, after both finishing sixth at last season's Patriot League Championships. La Salle joins Lehigh in the men's regional rankings, where the Explorers are slotted at No. 15.
The men return three high-performing seniors from last year's team, including Sean Burke who was an All-East finisher in the 10K a season ago. The group is bolstered by a young group of 11 sophomores.
"So far the season's been good to us," men's head coach Todd Etters said regarding the preseason. "We've been pretty much all entirely healthy. Our sophomore class is without a doubt the biggest class we've ever had and I think they can all be impactful," he added. "There's a few of them that were really good as freshmen and wound up on the varsity squad at the end of the year. I expect big things out of them."
The women's team returns four seniors in 2015, along with a talented group of sophomores and juniors that the coaching staff is expecting to have a large impact this season. Senior Elizabeth Weiler was named the program's first-ever All-American last season, and Jennifer Markham was the team's highest finisher at the conference and regional championships in 2013.
"Both the junior class and sophomore class have a tremendous amount of talent and varying levels of experience in our top seven, so they're really going to be asked to step up in a performance role and get used to really racing together in a pack," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "As they make that sophomore to junior year jump from a performance standpoint, a thing that we're really going to stress this year is that they make that jump together and push the whole pack forward."
The Invite has been friendly to the Mountain Hawks in recent years, with the men's team seeking its sixth Lehigh Invitational title in a row. The women have also won a pair of titles in the last four seasons, while finishing in the top two each of the last five years.
Live results will be posted during the meet and can be found by clicking here. Full results from the meet will be posted on Lehighsports.com at the conclusion of the event.
The pair of 6K events are slated to begin with the men's race at 5:30 p.m., where the Mountain Hawks will be joined by La Salle, Moravian and Muhlenberg. The women's race will follow at 6:15 p.m., featuring Lehigh, Delaware, DeSales, La Salle, LIU-Brooklyn, Moravian and Muhlenberg.
Both the men's and women's teams have received the third highest ranking among Patriot League institutions in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Preseason Regional poll, with the men ranked 11th and the women coming in 14th. Both teams have also been picked sixth in the Patriot League Preseason rankings, after both finishing sixth at last season's Patriot League Championships. La Salle joins Lehigh in the men's regional rankings, where the Explorers are slotted at No. 15.
The men return three high-performing seniors from last year's team, including Sean Burke who was an All-East finisher in the 10K a season ago. The group is bolstered by a young group of 11 sophomores.
"So far the season's been good to us," men's head coach Todd Etters said regarding the preseason. "We've been pretty much all entirely healthy. Our sophomore class is without a doubt the biggest class we've ever had and I think they can all be impactful," he added. "There's a few of them that were really good as freshmen and wound up on the varsity squad at the end of the year. I expect big things out of them."
The women's team returns four seniors in 2015, along with a talented group of sophomores and juniors that the coaching staff is expecting to have a large impact this season. Senior Elizabeth Weiler was named the program's first-ever All-American last season, and Jennifer Markham was the team's highest finisher at the conference and regional championships in 2013.
"Both the junior class and sophomore class have a tremendous amount of talent and varying levels of experience in our top seven, so they're really going to be asked to step up in a performance role and get used to really racing together in a pack," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "As they make that sophomore to junior year jump from a performance standpoint, a thing that we're really going to stress this year is that they make that jump together and push the whole pack forward."
The Invite has been friendly to the Mountain Hawks in recent years, with the men's team seeking its sixth Lehigh Invitational title in a row. The women have also won a pair of titles in the last four seasons, while finishing in the top two each of the last five years.
Live results will be posted during the meet and can be found by clicking here. Full results from the meet will be posted on Lehighsports.com at the conclusion of the event.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
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