Lehigh Quartet Captures DMR Title; Mountain Hawks Finish Fifth at Patriot League Championships

Saturday, February 17

Lewisburg, Pa.

All Day

Lehigh University

Patriot League Championships

Lehigh Quartet Captures DMR Title; Mountain Hawks Finish Fifth at Patriot League Championships

2/18/2018 8:44:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Complete Results: TFRRS | PDF (Women)

LEWISBURG, Pa. - For the second time in three years, Lehigh's distance medley relay team captured a Patriot League title on Sunday afternoon on the second and final day of the league championship meet. Sophomore Hannah Bonaguidi, senior Kristen Lavallee, sophomore Brooke Schaeffer and junior Clare Severe combined on the winning time of 11:58.94, finishing 0.10 seconds ahead of second place Army. Junior Tyler Bannister also captured a podium finish for Lehigh on Sunday in the high jump.

As a team, Lehigh finished fifth out of 10 at the championships with 77.5 points. Bucknell edged out Army West Point by four points to win their second title in the last three years. Lehigh athletes totaled four podium finishes at this weekend's championships, including two runner-up finishes and one league title.

Bonaguidi started off the DMR by running the 1200m, Lavallee followed with the 400m, Schaeffer ran the 800m leg and Severe finished it off with the mile.

"Coach Deb (Utesch) did a great job assembling that group and coached them through the 4x8 and DMR," said head coach Matt Utesch. "They executed the plan exactly and there was a lot of expertise behind the result. They were very impressive."

"Those are some pretty gutsy women," said assistant coach Debbie Utesch. "They are just strong enough to be able to handle doubles and triples throughout the weekend and that's why they can go out and race at that kind of level."

Freshman Alexis Smith had a big PR of 58.08 seconds in the finals of the 400m dash, where she finished just off the podium in fourth place.

"She is a very strong and smooth runner," Utesch said. "She's really very impressive and think she's got a long career ahead of her and will be very good."

In addition to the DMR finish, earlier in the day Schaeffer also tallied a fourth place personal record time on the afternoon, crossing the finish line of the 500m dash in 1:15.17. Severe led Lehigh in the 800m run with a fourth place finish of 2:13.25, with Sophie Antonioli finishing 10th (2:16.90) and Mary Casey taking 11th (2:17.47).

Lavallee was the lone Lehigh representative in the 1,000m, where she finished ninth (PR-2:59.30).

In the mile, sophomore Ashleigh Crawford finished sixth overall in 5:04.39, and Diana Hammerstone crossed the line 10th in PR time of 5:07.45. Crawford later placed 10th in the 3,000m in 10:07.93, finishing behind teammate Susie Poore, who raced to a seventh place finish of 10:04.08.

Over in the 4x400 relay, Erin Racano, Noreen Byrne, Smith and Amanda Fischer all combined for a sixth place time of 3:57.81.

In the field events, Bannister leapt onto the podium in third place of the high jump, finishing third at 1.65m. She was among the top three jumpers who all maxed out at 1.65m, but took third place on misses. Sophomore Jordan Otto was right behind, tying for fifth overall at 1.60m. Over in the triple jump, junior Armani Comick placed ninth, falling just shy of her PR at 11.04m.

"Tyler came back after a long day competing in the multi yesterday and did a great job," Utesch said. I'm really proud of her and she upheld the tradition of excellence we've had over the years in high jumping."

In the throws, Amanda Youngblood took eighth place of the shot put at 13.38m, and Brittany Curtin took 11th (12.63m).

The Mountain Hawks will now have a month-long break prior to the start of the outdoor season, with their first meet scheduled for Mar. 16-17 in Orlando, Fla.

"We started out the weekend by asking them to go out and do something that they have never done before," Utesch said. "We may not have a won a team title or as many titles as some past years, but we had a lot of PRs and did things that we have never done before. I'm as proud of this team as any that I've ever coached. "They did a great job and at our meeting at end of day, I challenged them to carry it into the outdoor season and do the same kind of thing, and I don't think there was a kid in the room who won't do that. I think you're going to see a more intense Lehigh team week in and week out."

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