Saturday, February 29
Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh University
vs
Patriot League Championships
Men's Track and Field aims to set multiple PRs at this weekend's Patriot League Championships
2/28/2020 10:37:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's track and field team is getting set to compete in the 2020 Indoor Patriot League Championships this weekend. The two-day event will be inside Rauch Fieldhouse, as the Mountain Hawks are searching for their third straight year of finishing inside the top-5. The Brown and white have finished the last two years in fourth-place.
"We're very excited to host this year's Patriot League Championship," head coach Matt Utesch said. "It's an honor to host this event, our entire staff has done a phenomenal job setting everything up and getting it ready. We hope to put on a first-class event."
For the Mountain Hawks, Lehigh enters this weekend on a bit of a hot stretch, as Lehigh has had consistent, yet strong showing in its last three competitions. Three weeks ago, the men's team had a school record that was broken, two weeks ago was one of their best showing all year at Monmouth and then last weekend they had 10 PRs at the Bucknell Tune-Up.
This year's team has also had strong leaders who have performed well, strong groups and breakout athletes. The Mountain Hawks finally have a sprinters, as freshman Zach DeLone and junior Samuel Tapera lead the way, while Evan El-Halawani, Michael Nardelli and Kerem Ayhan round out the young, but talented group. Senior Joey Kelly in the pole vault has been trending in the right direction the past couple of weeks and will be a top athlete to watch for the Brown and White. Senior Kyle Sult in the heptathlon is someone who has had a quiet first part of the season, but Utesch feels he is ready to break out.
"Everyone in the league knows Kyle (Sult) is coming, he doesn't have a mark yet in the heptathlon but I'm feeling good about him," Utesch said. "He's hurdling better, he's jumping better and he's vaulting better than he ever has. He has also added the 1000m to his repertoire. Then you have Joey (Kelly), who I think has a great shot of winning. He's jumping really big poles. I know that he's had some no heights, but it's because we've been working on things that he's since mastered. His time is now!"
"We can't forget Zach (DeLone), when you look at the results and where everyone else has run their best times, they've all ran it on bank tracks. Zach has been running on our track which is flat and then Bucknell's which is also flat. The three-time Rookie of the Week winner has a shot of being on the podium."
The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday with the multi events. The field events will start at 11:00 a.m., while the track events will begin at 1:00 p.m.
"I want to see us passing people at the end of races, while I also want to see us record a ton of PRs. Competitors are what make great teams and I want us to come out and compete." Utesch concluded.
"We're very excited to host this year's Patriot League Championship," head coach Matt Utesch said. "It's an honor to host this event, our entire staff has done a phenomenal job setting everything up and getting it ready. We hope to put on a first-class event."
For the Mountain Hawks, Lehigh enters this weekend on a bit of a hot stretch, as Lehigh has had consistent, yet strong showing in its last three competitions. Three weeks ago, the men's team had a school record that was broken, two weeks ago was one of their best showing all year at Monmouth and then last weekend they had 10 PRs at the Bucknell Tune-Up.
This year's team has also had strong leaders who have performed well, strong groups and breakout athletes. The Mountain Hawks finally have a sprinters, as freshman Zach DeLone and junior Samuel Tapera lead the way, while Evan El-Halawani, Michael Nardelli and Kerem Ayhan round out the young, but talented group. Senior Joey Kelly in the pole vault has been trending in the right direction the past couple of weeks and will be a top athlete to watch for the Brown and White. Senior Kyle Sult in the heptathlon is someone who has had a quiet first part of the season, but Utesch feels he is ready to break out.
"Everyone in the league knows Kyle (Sult) is coming, he doesn't have a mark yet in the heptathlon but I'm feeling good about him," Utesch said. "He's hurdling better, he's jumping better and he's vaulting better than he ever has. He has also added the 1000m to his repertoire. Then you have Joey (Kelly), who I think has a great shot of winning. He's jumping really big poles. I know that he's had some no heights, but it's because we've been working on things that he's since mastered. His time is now!"
"We can't forget Zach (DeLone), when you look at the results and where everyone else has run their best times, they've all ran it on bank tracks. Zach has been running on our track which is flat and then Bucknell's which is also flat. The three-time Rookie of the Week winner has a shot of being on the podium."
The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday with the multi events. The field events will start at 11:00 a.m., while the track events will begin at 1:00 p.m.
"I want to see us passing people at the end of races, while I also want to see us record a ton of PRs. Competitors are what make great teams and I want us to come out and compete." Utesch concluded.
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Men's Track and Field
Sprints/Multis
/ Men's Track and Field
Hurdles/Sprints
/ Men's Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Men's Track and Field
Hurdles/Sprints
/ Men's Track and Field
Multi/Hurdles
/ Men's Track and Field
Sprints
/ Men's Track and FieldLehigh Sports Central: Women's Wrestling
Thursday, December 11
Lehigh Sports Central: Football
Tuesday, December 02
MHT EP6 - Football
Thursday, November 20
Lehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, November 19
