Otto wins third women's PL title as Mountain Hawks finish fifth at championship meet

Saturday, February 16

Annapolis, Md.

Lehigh University

Patriot League Indoor Championship

Otto wins third women's PL title as Mountain Hawks finish fifth at championship meet

2/17/2019 8:05:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

PDF Results TFRRS Results Saturday Recap

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Lehigh women's track and field team earned a fifth place finish at the Patriot League Championships, which wrapped up Sunday at Navy's Wesley Brown Field House. The Mountain Hawks finished with 88.83 points and had four podium finishes on day two along with one individual champion. Lehigh finished the championships with three champions and seven podium finishes.

High jumper Jordan Otto won the Patriot League title for her 1.70m (5' 7") performance. The jump matched her 2018 outdoor high jump performance, where she also earned a league title.

"This is the second time as a Patriot League champion for her," coach Matt Utesch said. "She was in control of the meet the whole time. She didn't have any misses. For quite a long time, Lehigh was one-two-three with Jordan, Tyler (Bannister) and Noa (Levy). We were in a very good position that whole high jump competition."

Senior Clare Severe led the way for the distance runners, earning a second place finish in the women's mile with a time of 4:53.96. Yesterday, Severe anchored Lehigh's title-winning 4x800m relay team with a blistering split of 2:07.51. Junior Diana Hammerstone placed fifth in the mile, finishing with a time of 4:59.54.

"Clare's a superstar," Utesch said. "She's tough as nails. I couldn't be more impressed with the effort that she put out for this meet. She was just cool as a cucumber. She anchored the 4x800m and had a lot of pressure from the Army team trying to surge past her and she held them off and dropped the hammer at the end.

"She was great in the mile," Utesch continued. She's really hard to beat in the mile. She ran up in that front pack the whole time, right at the front of the race."

Severe also earned a spot on the podium in the 1000m, placing second overall with a time of 2:51.63, earning the Mountain Hawks eight team points.

In the 400m, freshman Madison Hackman broke the Lehigh school record with her time of 57.44, which was good for fifth place in the event. Sophomore Morgan McConnell finished three-tenths of a second behind Hackman, also breaking Lehigh's previous school record of 57.60, which was set by Danielle Albergo in 2014. McConnell's time was good for a sixth place finish.

"We had two girls break the school record in the 400m, and they weren't in the same section," Utesch said. "I can't wait to see them go head-to-head in the same heat and to see what happens to our school record then. They're excellent teammates, they work super hard together in practice and I'm really excited about the future for those two young 400m girls."

Junior Mary Casey finished fifth in the 800m with a time of 2:14.06. In the 3K, junior Ashley Crawford earned the fourth place spot with a time of 9:58.50.

"Huge effort from both Casey and Crawford. We're really excited about having Crawford in the meet fresh, and she did a great job for us. Both of those girls continue to produce and are getting better and better each time they race."

Lehigh's distance medley team came in second place with a time of 11:54.47, finishing four-tenths of a second behind Army, who won the event with a time of 11:54.06. To wrap up the meet, the 4x400m relay team finished in sixth place with a time of 3:57.37.

In the first day of action on Saturday, Lehigh won two league titles in the weight throw and the 4x800m relay. Sophomore Brittany Curtin threw a 18.29m (60' .25") personal record, good for the weight throw championship. The 4x800m relay team's time of 8:48.80 was a Patriot League Championship meet record, a facility record and a school record.

"Curtin had some massive throws yesterday," Utesch said. "She's looking at Katie Spain's record. As a sophomore, it's so cool to see her at the top of the podium and I'm excited about her future. I think she's going to be back there a few times."

Also on Saturday, sophomore Madisyn Hawkins placed third in the pole vault with a 3.65m (11' 11.75") performance.

"I'm proud of our teams, both the men and the women," Utesch continued. "They really competed well. There were a lot of ebbs and flows of energy and the teams really stayed focused and kept with it. I don't think the score really showed how exciting the meet was. The top half (of the league) is very strong, so if you're a Patriot League Champion, if you're on the podium, you're very special and we had quite a few of those kids. I'm really proud of our team and how they represented Lehigh."

Utesch also had high praises for the Mountain Hawk coaching staff. Todd Etters coached the men's 1000m, which earned Lehigh the most points out of any event and Carl Bruno earned multiple school records. Amanda Youngblood earned her first Patriot League Championship as a coach and Debbie Utesch earned a facility, Patriot League and Lehigh record, guiding the 4x800m relay team.

"The staff did a great job preparing our team," Utesch said.

Navy won the women's championship, earning 194.5 points, with Army finishing second and Boston University and Bucknell tying for third.

Lehigh will now shift focus to the outdoor season, which begins March 23.