Men’s Track Opens Season with the Lehigh Season Opener

Friday, December 1

Bethlehem, Pa.

All Day

Lehigh University

Lehigh Season Opener

Photo by: Don Paul

Men’s Track Opens Season with the Lehigh Season Opener

12/2/2017 1:43:00 AM | Men's Track and Field

Complete Results – TFRRS | PDF

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's track and field team opened up the 2017-18 season on Friday night with the Lehigh Season Opener at Rauch Fieldhouse. The Mountain Hawks were among 11 teams that competed at the unscored meet. The Brown and White picked up one individual win on the evening from senior Kyle Kirk in the 800m run.

A pair of freshman paced the Mountain Hawks in the 60 meter dash, both finishing in the top 10 out of 55 runners. Samuel Tapera finished fourth overall with a time of 7.09, followed by Matt Solomon in eighth (7.12). Senior Trevor Knowles competed in the 60 meter hurdles where he finished fourth in 8.50.

Michael Camera led the way for Lehigh in the 200m dash with a sixth place time of 23.18. Emre Soybas, who finished ninth in the 200m, led the way in the 400m for LU with a time of 51.93 for a 10th place tally.

Kirk picked up his first career victory in the 800m run, breaking the tape in 1:57.24 to set a new PR by 3.61 seconds. He was joined in the top five by classmate James Chappell who placed fifth in 2:01.28, and Kyle Berman finished 10th in 2:02.81.

"I couldn't be more happy for him," head coach Matt Utesch said of Kirk. "He had a pretty solid time too. I hope he has a new outlook on the event and he is showing that he could be a contender in the league. I couldn't be more happy and proud for him."

Over in the jumps, junior Ryan Givens led the Mountain Hawks in both the long jump and high jump, placing ninth with a leap of 6.57m in the long jump and clearing the bar at 2.00 meters in the high jump. Knowles followed in 11th place (6.49m) in the long jump and in 10th place of the high jump (1.90m). Senior Michael Gooding was the top Mountain Hawk in the triple jump, finishing fifth (13.75m). Junior Max Jordan led LU with a fifth place vault of 3.95m.

"For Trevor (Knowles), it was a very solid start for him in the long jump," Utesch said. "He also had a solid shot put.

"Ryan Givens was just off his PR in the high jump," Utesch added. "I'm looking for him to jump seven feet this year if we can keep him healthy and he'll be another one in a long string of seven foot high jumpers that we've had here, so that will be exciting."

The weight throw saw freshman Anastasios Mouzakis take fifth overall with a toss of 16.01 meters in his collegiate debut. Sophomore Adam Freesman set a new PR with his toss of 14.21m to finish 11th.

The meet concluded with the men's shot put, where Lehigh was led by junior Alexander Rodgers, who placed 13th with a top throw of 13.30m. Freshman Christopher Alexy (13.13m) debuted with a 17th place finish and Knowles turned out a throw of 13.05m to place 19th.

Lehigh will compete at Rauch Fieldhouse once again next weekend in their last meet before the holidays, hosting the Fast Times Before Finals meet on Friday and Saturday.

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