Mountain Hawks See Great Success After The First Indoor Meet Of The Year

Saturday, December 1

Bethlehem, Pa.

Lehigh University

Lehigh Season Opener

Photo by: Hunter Julius

Mountain Hawks See Great Success After The First Indoor Meet Of The Year

12/1/2018 9:00:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

RESULTS

BETHLEHEM, Pa – The Lehigh men's track and field team kicked off its indoor season at the Rauch Fieldhouse as the Mountain Hawks hosted the Lehigh Season Opener on Saturday. Along with Lehigh, Moravian and Muhlenberg were also present for the Lehigh Season Opener

"It was a great meet to break the ice and it gave us a chance to look at our events a bit differently," said head coach Matt Utesch. "We were able to see our athletes in competition, and competition changes everything. We had some throwers have some big days and we competed really well on the track today. I liked the fact our guys didn't treat this like a tuneup; they went out and really competed. There were a lot of bright sports today with the new guys along with our returners."

Sprints, Middle Distance, and Relay

Lehigh had a strong day from its sprinters, getting at least one top-three finish in the 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, 200-meter run and 400-meter run. Starting in the 60-meter hurdles, the Mountain Hawks had two runners finish in the top three, as junior Kyle Sult and freshman Michael Nardelli finished second and third respectively with times of 8.59 and 8.71 seconds.

Sophomore Matt Solomon was the lone Lehigh runner to compete in the 60-meter dash, finishing second with a time of 7.19.

In the 200-meter run, Lehigh saw sophomore Samuel Tapera take second place with a time of 23.16. Competing in the 200-meter run for the first time for Lehigh were freshmen Trevor Thenga and Martin Labib, with the newcomers finishing fifth and sixth with times of 24.49 and 24.59.

Senior Emre Soybas took home the top time in the 400-meter run, finishing with a time of 51.36, a full .6 seconds faster than the runner up.

The Mountain Hawks dominated the 800-meter run, taking the top-eight sports, as junior Matt Kravitz, freshman Nicholas Crociata, freshman Kyle Burke, senior Kyle Berman, senior Kyle Kirk, senior Clay Stabolepszy, junior Ryan Paradise and junior David Fletcher all competed for the Brown and White.

The Lehigh (A) relay team of Soybas, sophomore Evan El-Halawani, Crociata and Kirk finished first in the men's 4x400 relay.

Field Events

The Mountain Hawks had three members of their pole vault squad make the top-six. Junior Joey Kelly finished first with a jump of 4.70m (15'5'') while senior Max Jordan came in second with a jump of 4.40m (14'5.25''). Freshman Solomon Myers rounded out the pole vaulters for Lehigh, finishing sixth in his first event meet for the Mountain Hawks.

In the long jump, senior Ryan Givens took home his first first-place finish of the year with a jump of 6.47m (21'2.75''). Solomon finished third for the Mountain Hawks with a jump of 6.21m (20'4.50'') while junior Erik Metz rounded out the top-five with a fourth-place finish, coming away with a 5.97m (19'7'') jump. The Mountain Hawks had three more jumpers place in the top-nine, with sophomore Obosa Ogbeide, freshman Carter Schmalzle along with Myers rounding out the group.

Lehigh had four of the top five marks in the high jump, with freshman Vincent Polignano taking top honors for the men, finishing with a jump of 1.90m (6'2.75'') while Sult and Ogbeide took second and third with identical jumps of 1.85m (6'0.75). Freshman Matthew Fisher took fourth place with a jump of 1.70m (5'7'').

In a three-man race for first in the triple jump, Lehigh took first and third place, as Metz edged out the competition from Muhlenberg with a mark of 13.05m (42'9.75) while Schmalzle took third place behind a mark of 12.32m (40'5'').

Taking a look at the throwing events, Lehigh was once again dominant showing its strength in the shot put. Junior Adam Freesman was top dog with a mark of 13.44m (44'1.25''), while sophomore Riley LaRiviere took third place with a mark of 13.19m (43'3.25''). Sophomore Anastasios Mouzakis also placed in the top-10 with a sixth-place finish and a mark of 12.04m (39'6'').

The weight throw saw the Mountain Hawks take another first-place finish, with Mouzakis taking the honors on the back of a mark of 16.66m (54'8''). Lariviere was next up, finishing second in the weight throw with a mark of 15.57m (51'1'') while Freesman rounded out the top-three for the Mountain Hawks with a mark of 15.56m (51'0.75'').

The Mountain Hawks return to action next Friday as Lehigh hosts Fast Times Before Finals December 7 and will resume Saturday, December 8.