Lehigh Wins Four Events at Fast Times Meet

Friday, December 8

Bethlehem, Pa.

All Day

Lehigh University

Fast Times Before Finals

Photo by: Don Paul

12/9/2017 10:10:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Complete Results: TFRRS | PDF

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's track and field team wrapped up competition on Saturday afternoon at the two-day Fast Times Before Finals meet at Rauch Fieldhouse. The Mountain Hawks had a number of solid performances over the weekend, including wins in four events from senior Alexander Fitzgerald, junior Ryan Givens, freshman Anastasios Mouzakis and the 4x800. LU also took runner-up in an additional three events.

Mouzakis hit an IC4A qualifying mark of 17.02 meters to claim his first collegiate win in the weight throw, as Lehigh placed three throwers in the top 10 of the event with Adam Freesman (PR-14.42m) in sixth and Riley LaRiviere placing seventh (14.27m).

"There's not a lot of kids that do the weight throw in high school," said head coach Matt Utesch. "We're looking at this legacy of men's throwers that started way back with (school record holder) Chris Bryce and continuing to (2017 All-American) Lucas Warning. (Mouzakis) won with a very respectable distance. I hope he has the vision to see the kind of work ethic and character that guys before him have had and that he continues building that legacy."

Junior Ryan Givens captured first place by clearing the high jump bar at 2.00m. Over in the long jump, freshman Matt Solomon made a big impact for Lehigh with a second place finish at 6.83 meters. Givens also competed in the long jump where he finished seventh. Over in the triple jump, senior Michael Gooding landed on the podium in third place with a PR of 14.23m. In the vault, Max Jordan tied for third place at 4.25 meters.

"At 6.83, that's a pretty great jump for (Solomon)," Utesch said. "To beat Givens in that event, that's the real deal. Don't expect Ryan to sit back on that though, he had a great effort to win the high jump."

In the throws, Alexander Rodgers paced Lehigh in sixth place of the shot put (14.36m), and Mouzakis also competed, placing 21st.

Over on the track, Fitzgerald led things off for Lehigh on Friday night by taking home the top spot in the 5K, the lone men's event of Friday evening, with a time of 15:47.37.

In the sprints, freshman Samuel Tapera placed sixth overall in the finals of the 60 meter dash, repeating his prelim time of 7.05 seconds. Senior Michael Camera placed fifth overall in the 200m dash out of 61 finishers.

"Tapera did a great job and ran faster than he did last weekend," Utesch said. "He has so much more in the tank and I can't wait to get him into some real speed work and see where that takes him."

In the 1,000m run, Lehigh placed three runners in the top four with senior Kyle Kirk finishing second (2:32.05), Kyle Berman (2:32.91) in third and James Chappell in fourth (2:35.85).

In the relays, Lehigh's team of David Fletcher, Samuel Layding, Eric Kersten and John Tolbert combined on a winning time in the 4x800, while the team of Emre Soybas, Evan El-Halawani, Kirk and Berman combined on a fourth place finish in the 4x400.

Lehigh will now have a nearly one-month break for final exams and the holidays before picking back up again at the Wagner Invitational on January 5.

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