Men’s Track and Field Ready to Go in Patriot League Championships

Friday, May 4

Easton, Pa.

All Day

Lehigh University

Patriot League Championships

Photo by: Don Paul

Men’s Track and Field Ready to Go in Patriot League Championships

5/3/2018 2:22:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Patriot League Championship Central | Patriot League Preview | Schedule | Live Results | Live Video (Saturday only) | PL Record Book

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After competing at 11 meets over the last five weekends, the Lehigh men's track and field team is set to do battle at the 2018 Patriot League Championships, hosted by Lafayette at the Metzgar Field Athletic Complex in Easton, Pa. Lehigh enters the championships with eight different top five rankings in the league this outdoor season.

A two-day event running throughout Friday and Saturday, all of the action is set to get underway at 9am on Friday morning with the 10,000m. Field and multi events will begin at 10:45 a.m. with the afternoon featuring several prelims on the track, plus the finals of the 4x800m relay. A complete schedule of events can be found by clicking here.

A free live online broadcast will be streamed live at PatriotLeague.TV on Saturday beginning at 12:45 p.m. and run through the rest of the days' events.

At February's indoor championships, Lehigh placed fourth out of nine teams, with senior Trevor Knowles becoming the first athlete in league history to win four heptathlon titles in four years as he captured LU's lone men's individual championship. Knowles also captured second team all-league honors for his runner-up performance in the 60m hurdles to earn Field Athlete of the Meet honors. Kyle Kirk also finished runner-up in the 800m run to collect second team accolades. With a win in the decathlon this weekend, Knowles would become the first athlete in league history to win all eight multi titles in his career.

League wide, former outdoor champions will be returning in 12 of the 19 events at this year's championships. Four-time defending outdoor champion Navy will look to make it a season sweep after winning this year's indoor title.

Sophomore Jeffrey Kirshenbaum enters championship weekend holding the second ranked 5,000m time in the league this season after he finished sixth overall in 14:21.53 at the Larry Ellis Invitational. He also holds the No. 2 10,000m time (30:45.48) after opening the season at the Raleigh Relays. Senior John Tolbert ranks second in the league in the 3,000m steeplechase (9:08.70) after his performance at the Larry Ellis Invitational two weeks ago. Knowles' personal record time of 14.73 in the 110m hurdles at the Penn Relays puts him fifth in the league.

In the field, junior Ryan Givens sits second in the league's descending order list with a 7.04m leap in the long jump. He also holds the sixth-best high jump (1.92m) in the PL. Senior Michael Gooding is coming off a personal record triple jump of 14.45m at last weekend's Lehigh Games, which sits him fifth in the league.

Sophomore Kyle Sult ranks third in the league in the decathlon after scoring 5,924 points at the Mondschein Multi. He will be joined in the vent by Knowles, who has not competed in a decathlon yet this season.

Returning Outdoor All-Patriot League Performers:
First Team:
Trevor Knowles: Decathlon (2015, 2016, 2017)

Second Team:
Ryan Givens: Long Jump (2016)

Lehighsports.com will have a full recap following both days of action on Friday and Saturday. Live updates can also be followed on the go with live results and updates on Twitter @LehighTFXC.

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