Men’s Cross Country Ready for Dual Meet with Lafayette

Saturday, September 17

Easton, Pa.

10 a.m.

Lehigh University

Lafayette

Men’s Cross Country Ready for Dual Meet with Lafayette

9/15/2016 4:47:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

View 2016 MXC Stat Sheet
View History of the Lehigh-Lafayette Rivalry

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's cross country team is set to compete for the third straight weekend to begin the season, as they get ready for their annual dual meet against Lafayette. The race will take place this Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m. at the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex in Easton, Pa.

Lehigh is coming off a pair of solid performances to begin the 2016 campaign. After taking first place at the Lehigh Invitational on Sept. 2, the team took home fourth place out of 11 at last weekend's Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State, a meet featuring nationally ranked No. 1 Syracuse, and Mid-Atlantic Regional No. 1 Georgetown. Lehigh finished one spot ahead of the host Nittany Lions and two places ahead of Saint Joseph's. Senior Alexander Fitzgerald (15th) was the top Lehigh finisher at the Spiked Shoe Invite, while Brian Arita has finished in Lehigh's top three in both meets thus far. Junior Christopher Mascetti, and freshmen Jeffrey Kirshenbaum and Matt Kravitz have all placed in the top seven in each of the first two meets.

In this week's USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Regional poll, the Mountain Hawks have risen five spots to No. 6, which is at least tied for the highest regional mark in program history.

Saturday will be the second meet of the season for the Leopards, who finished in fourth place at the Sept. 2 Monmouth XC Kickoff, which featured five Division I schools. Sophomore David Sadvary (20:15.18) led the way in 17th place overall, followed by freshman Nate Becker (20:46.09) in 25th place and junior Tyler Pressl (20:47.40) in 26th.

Last season, Lehigh notched its 17th consecutive win over Lafayette, and marked the third time in four years of scoring a perfect score in the meet. Scott Mason captured the individual title with a time of 26:23.4. Lehigh's runners took home each of the top 11 places, and 13 of the top 14 spots in the race.

After this weekend, the men's team will enjoy a weekend off before competing in the annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh's Goodman Campus on Oct. 1.