Lehigh University Athletics
Thursday, May 24
Tampa, Fla.
All Day
Lehigh University
vs
NCAA Championship First Round
Photo by: Don Paul
Lehigh Trio Concludes Season at First Round of NCAA Championships
5/25/2018 10:21:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Complete Results (TFRRS) |Â Complete Result (PDF)Â | Thursday Results (PDF) | Friday Results (PDF)
TAMPA, Fla. – Three members of the Lehigh track and field programs wrapped up the 2018 season on Friday evening at the First Round of the 2018 NCAA Championships at the University of South Florida.
Sophomore Victor Yegon ran in the 3,000m steeplechase on Friday evening and placed 37th overall with a time of 9:16.07.
"He had quite a good race," said head coach Matt Utesch. "He stayed with the front pack and worked really hard. It was the fastest first mile he has run in a steeple. It was an aggressive race for him. You can see the talent that exists and being a part of that is humbling and exciting."
On the women's side, sophomore Ashleigh Crawford followed up Yegon's performance with a 38th place finish in the women's 3K steeplechase in 10:43.59.
"She has the same learning curve," Utesch said. "She led the PL by a significant amount and now here everyone's running as fast as or faster than her, but she still improved her seed by 10 spots."
Sophomore Hannah Patrick was the other Mountain Hawk who qualified for the First Round and finished 47th in the javelin on Thursday night at 36.50 meters.
"This is the biggest stage in track and takes a huge effort to get here," Utesch said. "She's had better meets, I couldn't be more proud of her cause she got here for the second time and is learning stuff each time she comes here. She is carrying on a great legacy and continues to improve it as we move along.
"Being in this race is important and what we have is a bunch of sophomores that are coming to compete on this stage," Utesch said. "They'll be back with a vengeance and the hard work they have put in will pay off. I'm happy with the way our team represents the university at every meet we go to, but especially proud when we come to big meets like this. I have to give credit to our staff. We have distance and field event people here, and that's a credit to Deb (Utesch), Todd (Etters) and Ryan (Yurchick)."
Friday's performance capped a great sophomore campaign for Yegon, which included his first career Patriot League title (steeplechase) back on May 5 and an All-East performance at the IC4A Championships. He lowered his personal record time in four straight meets beginning with a 9:24.21 mark at the Bison Outdoor Classic, 9:23.63 at the Penn Relays, 9:06.58 with his victory at the Patriot League Championships, and his All-East, fifth place showing of 9:00.79 at the IC4A Championships.
Crawford qualified for the first round prelims for the first time in her career following a spectacular sophomore season that included her first career Patriot League Championship in the steeplechase. She won the league title in 10:31.48, marking the second straight year she landed on the podium at the PLC after finishing third as a freshman in 2017. Her seed time and personal record of 10:28.77 was the best in the Patriot League this season, over nine seconds faster than the next closest competitor, coming when she placed sixth out of 34 at the Larry Ellis Invitational on April 20. One week later at the Penn Relays, she broke the school's 3K record (9:41.30), besting the old mark from 1997 by 8.15 seconds.
This year was the second straight appearance in the first round prelims for Patrick, after throwing a personal best 45.61 meters at the Penn Relays. She medaled for the second straight season at this year's Patriot League Championships after finishing runner-up (42.57 meters). Patrick also placed ninth at the ECAC Championships (42.26m), won the javelin at the Lehigh-Lafayette dual and placed seventh at the Bison Outdoor Classic (7th of 12/45.39m) and the Virginia Challenge (7th of 38/44.38m).
The trio was among 30 athletes representing the Patriot League at this year's East Region Championships. All participants in Tampa this weekend rank as the top 48 of each event in the NCAA's East Region. The top 12 placers in each event this weekend will qualify for the final round of the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Oregon on June 6-9, where they will be joined by the top 12 placers from this weekend's West Region preliminary action in Sacramento, California.
Follow Lehigh Cross Country/Track and Field on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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TAMPA, Fla. – Three members of the Lehigh track and field programs wrapped up the 2018 season on Friday evening at the First Round of the 2018 NCAA Championships at the University of South Florida.
Sophomore Victor Yegon ran in the 3,000m steeplechase on Friday evening and placed 37th overall with a time of 9:16.07.
"He had quite a good race," said head coach Matt Utesch. "He stayed with the front pack and worked really hard. It was the fastest first mile he has run in a steeple. It was an aggressive race for him. You can see the talent that exists and being a part of that is humbling and exciting."
On the women's side, sophomore Ashleigh Crawford followed up Yegon's performance with a 38th place finish in the women's 3K steeplechase in 10:43.59.
"She has the same learning curve," Utesch said. "She led the PL by a significant amount and now here everyone's running as fast as or faster than her, but she still improved her seed by 10 spots."
Sophomore Hannah Patrick was the other Mountain Hawk who qualified for the First Round and finished 47th in the javelin on Thursday night at 36.50 meters.
"This is the biggest stage in track and takes a huge effort to get here," Utesch said. "She's had better meets, I couldn't be more proud of her cause she got here for the second time and is learning stuff each time she comes here. She is carrying on a great legacy and continues to improve it as we move along.
"Being in this race is important and what we have is a bunch of sophomores that are coming to compete on this stage," Utesch said. "They'll be back with a vengeance and the hard work they have put in will pay off. I'm happy with the way our team represents the university at every meet we go to, but especially proud when we come to big meets like this. I have to give credit to our staff. We have distance and field event people here, and that's a credit to Deb (Utesch), Todd (Etters) and Ryan (Yurchick)."
Friday's performance capped a great sophomore campaign for Yegon, which included his first career Patriot League title (steeplechase) back on May 5 and an All-East performance at the IC4A Championships. He lowered his personal record time in four straight meets beginning with a 9:24.21 mark at the Bison Outdoor Classic, 9:23.63 at the Penn Relays, 9:06.58 with his victory at the Patriot League Championships, and his All-East, fifth place showing of 9:00.79 at the IC4A Championships.
Crawford qualified for the first round prelims for the first time in her career following a spectacular sophomore season that included her first career Patriot League Championship in the steeplechase. She won the league title in 10:31.48, marking the second straight year she landed on the podium at the PLC after finishing third as a freshman in 2017. Her seed time and personal record of 10:28.77 was the best in the Patriot League this season, over nine seconds faster than the next closest competitor, coming when she placed sixth out of 34 at the Larry Ellis Invitational on April 20. One week later at the Penn Relays, she broke the school's 3K record (9:41.30), besting the old mark from 1997 by 8.15 seconds.
This year was the second straight appearance in the first round prelims for Patrick, after throwing a personal best 45.61 meters at the Penn Relays. She medaled for the second straight season at this year's Patriot League Championships after finishing runner-up (42.57 meters). Patrick also placed ninth at the ECAC Championships (42.26m), won the javelin at the Lehigh-Lafayette dual and placed seventh at the Bison Outdoor Classic (7th of 12/45.39m) and the Virginia Challenge (7th of 38/44.38m).
The trio was among 30 athletes representing the Patriot League at this year's East Region Championships. All participants in Tampa this weekend rank as the top 48 of each event in the NCAA's East Region. The top 12 placers in each event this weekend will qualify for the final round of the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Oregon on June 6-9, where they will be joined by the top 12 placers from this weekend's West Region preliminary action in Sacramento, California.
Follow Lehigh Cross Country/Track and Field on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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Players Mentioned
Mid-Distance/Steeple
/ Women's Track and Field
Throws
/ Women's Track and Field
Distance
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