Reilly Qualifies for NCAA Championships; Lehigh Places Ninth at Regionals

Friday, November 10

Bethlehem, Pa.

11:45 a.m.

Lehigh University

NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional

Photo by: Don Paul

Reilly Qualifies for NCAA Championships; Lehigh Places Ninth at Regionals

11/10/2017 3:16:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

Complete Results: TFRRS | PDF

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh senior Patrick Reilly qualified for the NCAA Championships on Friday afternoon following his fifth place overall finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, hosted by Lehigh at the Goodman Campus XC Course. Reilly's fifth place finish ties Ryan Mahalsky (2014) for the highest finish ever by a Lehigh runner at the regional meet and makes him the fourth nationals qualifier in program history. Reilly completed the extended 10K course in 30:39.4, besting his previous 10K collegiate personal record by 1:05.3. He is the first Lehigh male to qualify for the national championship meet since Mahalsky in 2014.

"First and foremost, it shows how resilient he is," said head coach Todd Etters. "He had a rough meet at the league championship, and you see what kind of kids you have when they have to pick themselves back up, and he did that in grand fashion today."

Overall, the Mountain Hawks placed ninth out of 26 teams at the meet with 272 points, third among Patriot League schools and tying them with Bucknell, who also registered 272 points. Princeton took home the team title with 57 points, followed by Navy with 109 as both teams earned bids to the NCAA Championships. Villanova (115) finished third, followed by Georgetown (122) in fourth and Penn State (131) in fifth. Lehigh's ninth place finish is the team's highest since finishing ninth at the 2014 regionals at Penn State.

Following Reilly was sophomore Jeffrey Kirshenbaum, who came in 40th overall in 31:37.9. He was followed by senior John Tolbert in 50th (31:29.3), sophomore Victor Yegon (83rd/32:04.3) and freshman Brad DeMassa (94th/32:14.7). Senior Ryan Grace (32:30.2) finished sixth on the team in 112th place and sophomore Matt Kravitz (33:09.7) completed the Lehigh pack in 133rd place.

"To be top 10, we're definitely happy with that," Etters said. "We were tied with Bucknell and when you end up in the top 10, it's really splitting hairs up there in some ways. Our pack ran well, even though they faded a little over the last 1,000 meters. I really want to commend Jeff (Kirshenbaum) and John (Tolbert) for running really tough, gritty races. We had some young guys in there who proved they can race at this level. They put their best team effort out there today and that's pretty impressive. I'm excited to see what the future holds."

"I think he has always had the window open to compete at the national level, but today he finally broke through that," Etters said of Reilly. "He's always had the work ethic, drive, passion, and goals, and today he was able to deliver. That's the type of student-athlete we recruit. They set their sights high and over time, it shows you can achieve what you really want."

Reilly's performance comes on what was a very strong day for the Patriot League at regional meets. With Navy's men automatically qualifying as a team and Bucknell finishing eighth in a tiebreaker with Lehigh, Navy had three individuals and American had two of its runners join Reilly on the USTFCCCA All-Region team by virtue of finishing in the top 25 overall. Over in the Northeast Regional, PL champion Army West Point finished third overall and has put themselves in possible contention for a spot at the national championships. Three runners also earned All-Northeast Region honors on the men's side. On the women's side, Bucknell's Christine Bendzinski also qualified for the NCAA Championships.

"The Patriot League now as a distance conference is among the best out there," Etters said. "That is pretty cool to see for a conference the size of ours and the mission we have behind it."

The opportunity to host a regional meet is significant for Lehigh, and its importance was certainly not lost on the program and the university as a whole.

"Dale Townsend and the rest of our facilities staff deserve a lot of credit," Etters said. "Dale did the line share of responsibilities for hosting the meet. Facilities had the course looking phenomenal. It helps us to be able to just go out there, and race and it helps that we can practice on it and get a big crowd. Our track team and alums were there, and we had a good turn out from the student body. Those all are all huge advantages, which really helped Pat and our team today.

Reilly will compete at the NCAA Championships next Saturday, Nov. 18 in Louisville, Ky. Check back to Lehighsports.com for previews and news leading up to the meet.

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