Men’s Track and Field Ready to Kick off 2016-17 Season

Friday, December 2

Bethlehem, Pa.

5:30 p.m.

Lehigh University

Lehigh Season Opener

Photo by: Don Paul

Men’s Track and Field Ready to Kick off 2016-17 Season

12/1/2016 6:39:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Live Results for Lehigh Season Opener

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's track and field team returns a strong core of athletes who will look to start the team off on the right foot in Friday's Lehigh Season Opener at Rauch Fieldhouse. The Mountain Hawks return many of the key pieces to a team that will look to build on a pair of fifth place performances at last year's indoor and outdoor Patriot League Championships.

"I think we have a pretty good men's team," said head coach Matt Utesch. "Usually we kind of know where we're at, but this year I don't think we do. I think we can be a little better than we have been in the past if we can pull everything together."

The first chance to catch the Mountain Hawks in action will be late Friday afternoon in the Lehigh Season Opener at Rauch Fieldhouse. The unscored meet is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. and feature Alvernia, East Stroudsburg, Eastern, Gwynedd Mercy, Moravian, Muhlenberg, Penn, Rowan and West Chester.

Multis
Junior Trevor Knowles returns after capturing four Patriot League titles through his first two seasons with The Brown and White. After winning the heptathlon and decathlon as a freshman, he followed that up with a school record performance of 5,224 points to win the heptathlon last year, and set a new school and PL meet record with 7,001 points in the decathlon at the outdoor championships.

"Trevor is looking better than ever and he's stronger than he's ever been," Utesch said. "He's really looking to qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships this year, which would be unprecedented in our program."

Jumps
Sophomore Ryan Givens jumped onto the scene as a freshman last season, finishing the year strong with a runner-up performance at the outdoor league championships in the long jump, earning him second team all-league honors. Senior Daniel Reichenbach turned in third place finishes in the long jump and triple jump at PL outdoors, and senior Daniel Boardman added top five finishes in the long jump at both indoors and outdoors last season after winning a league outdoor title in the event as a sophomore in 2015.

"Givens was second at the PL Championships in the long jump and he's a great candidate in the high jump," Utesch said. "And he can hurdle, so we look for him to be strong in three events.

"Daniel Reichenbach and Daniel Boardman and Taj Blount-Oden and Michael Gooding - There's a whole crew of long and triple jumpers that are very good and we've been all over the awards stand with them," Utesch added.

Throws
Senior Lucas Warning returns after breaking both the school outdoor and indoor shot put records, the latter of which had previously stood for over 40 years. He put up the three best shots puts in the Patriot League during the outdoor season and qualified for the first round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships. After finishing runner-up at the indoor meet, Warning captured his first career Patriot League championship at outdoors (17.46m).

"Lucas is coming back and he's stronger than ever and he's healthy," Utesch said. "If we can keep him that way, I think he's going to be a force to be reckoned with and he'll break his own school records."

Sprint/Mid-Distance/Distance
In the sprint/mid-distance group, Lehigh returns several runners who will continue to factor into the team's success this season. Sophomore Clay Stabolepszy returns after a solid freshman campaign that saw him named the PL's Male Rookie of the Week on May 2.

"I think we have a little more than we have had in the past," Utesch said. "Clay is being joined by a freshman in Joe Espinal, who has looked really good. In the shorter sprints we've got Michael Camera and Christopher Del Rossi, who is ready to go as a senior. He's as healthy as he has ever been so we're looking for good stuff out of him."

James Chappell also returns to the mid-distance events having won the 1,000m at last winter's Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet and adding top eight finishes in the 800m runs at the Lehigh Games, Lafayette 7-Way and the indoor Bucknell Tune-Up.

Lehigh is coming off a fourth place finish at this year's PL cross country championships, and feature several runners who will impact the team's mid-distance and distance events on the track.

"All those guys are contenders," Utesch said. "I think they had an excellent cross country season and they were only seven points out of second place. That may be a little bit of a reason to grind for them."

Alexander Fitzgerald and Patrick Reilly both earned second team all-league honors in cross country and have had success on the track as well, including a pair of eighth place finishes from Reilly in last year's 5Ks at the league championships, and Fitzgerald having four top-10 finishes in track distance events at the league championships.

After not having cross country eligibility remaining this fall, Sean Burke and Evan Hardy will return this winter for their final year on the track.

Lehigh Season Opener
Friday's meet is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at Rauch Fieldhouse with the high jump, weight throw and pole vaults. Complete meet information is available here. Check back to Lehighsports.com following the event for a full recap.