Givens and Knowles Lead Mountain Hawks on Day One of Patriot League Championships

Photo by: Don Paul

Givens and Knowles Lead Mountain Hawks on Day One of Patriot League Championships

5/6/2016 6:42:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Men's Day 1 Results (HTML)

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Lehigh men's track and field team opened up action on Friday at the Patriot League Championships at Bucknell University. Freshman Ryan Givens collected a runner-up finish and sophomore Trevor Knowles put himself in the driver's seat for the decathlon crown headed into Saturday's second and final day of competition. As a team, the Mountain Hawks currently sit in fourth place overall with 24 points, 13.5 points behind Bucknell and seven points ahead of fifth place Boston University.

Lehigh was solid in the long jump, taking spots two-thru-four, led by Givens in second place who set a new personal record of 7.06 meters to collect eight team points. Teammate Daniel Reichenbach came in right behind him in third place, making the podium with his leap of 7.05 meters, which is also a new PR. Junior Daniel Boardman followed close behind in fourth place, setting a season-high of 7.02m. All three jumps surpassed IC4A qualifying standards.

All three will return on Saturday to compete in the triple jump, which excites head coach Matt Utesch.

"Our long jumpers tore it up today and we'll have those guys back for the triple jump tomorrow," Utesch said. "We're strong in the high jump with Lou (Adesida) and Boardman, plus Givens is coming on strong as well.

Knowles leads the way through the first five events of the decathlon with 3,521 points, exactly 190 points ahead of the second place competitor. Knowles dominated the day by taking the top spot in four of the five events including the long jump (6.61m), shot put (12.53m), 400 meter dash (51.64) and tying for first in the high jump (1.85m). He also grabbed third place in the 100m dash in 11.52 seconds.

In addition to the decathlon, Knowles led the Brown and White in the pole vault, clearing the bar in 10th place at 4.40 meters, along with senior Beau Whitman who also vaulted 4.40m to finish 11th.

The day on the track began with the 10K, where four Lehigh athletes met IC4A qualifying marks, led by junior Alexander Fitzgerald in seventh place (30:46.62). Coming in one spot behind him was freshman Samuel Layding (30:53.50), followed by senior Sean Burke in 10th place (31:06.30). Sophomore Patrick Reilly was also an IC4A qualifier, finishing 12th (31:27.54) in the field of 20.

In the 4x800 meter relay, the Mountain Hawks took home seventh place overall (7:46.87) courtesy of sophomore James Chappell, freshman Clay Stabolepszy, sophomore Christopher Mascetti and junior Ryan Cooney.

Stabolepszy had a PR in his split in the 4x800," Utesch said. "Look out for him and our hurdlers tomorrow, like Robert Hugin. Reilly and our 5K guys are going to be solid and we have Lucas Warning going tomorrow in the shot put as the No. 1 seed with a really good chance to win."

Freshman Ryan Givens (15.40) and sophomore Fritz Isaac (15.44) both set new PRs while competing in the 110 meter hurdle prelims. Sophomore Michael Camera also set a new PR (11.11 seconds) competing in the 100m dash prelims, while classmate Jake Sabatini tied his PR of 11.14 in the same race.

Freshman Emre Soybas met an IC4A qualifying time of 22.10 in the 200 meter dash prelims, leading the way for Lehigh in 12th place and smashing his former PR by four tenths. Christopher Del Rossi placed 15th (22.35) in the prelims, followed by Sabatini (PR-22.53) and James Clements (PR-22.68).

The Patriot League Championships will wrap up on Saturday with all of the day's events scheduled to get underway at 11:15 a.m. Complete meet information including a schedule of events and live stats are available here. Check back to Lehighsports.com following the meet's conclusion for a full recap.

Men's Track and Field Standings After Day 1 of PLC
Team                                     Points
1. Navy                                 83
2. Army                                38
3. Bucknell                          37.50
4. Lehigh                              24
5. Boston University       17
6. American                        15
7. Lafayette                        10
8. Holy Cross                      5.50
9. Colgate                            4