Lehigh Set for Final Tune-Up Before Patriots at Princeton Invitational

Saturday, October 16

Princeton, NJ

9:45 a.m.

Lehigh University

Princeton Invitational

Men's Cross Country Seth Slavin Connor Melko_2474

Photo by: Don Paul

Lehigh Set for Final Tune-Up Before Patriots at Princeton Invitational

10/14/2021 2:24:00 PM | Men's Cross Country

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Two weeks after the 47th Annual Lehigh Paul Short Run presented by ASICS, the Lehigh men's cross country team is set to return to the course on Saturday at the Princeton Invitational (while a few runners will also be competing at the Lafayette Leopard Invitational). The men's 8K race at Princeton will begin at 9:45 a.m. while the men's 8K at Lafayette is set for 10 a.m.

Lehigh head coach Todd Etters is happy where the team stands, two weeks after its last competition and two weeks before the Patriot League Championships. Saturday will mark just the second and final time the Mountain Hawks are scheduled to race away from Lehigh.

"I feel like we used pacing break pretty well," said Etters. "It let them step out of the grind for just a few days. We adjusted our practice schedules to be a little bit more flexible with them. I think at the moment, we're really well-rested. We had a tremendous week of training last week, so I think we're extremely fit and at this point, we just need to race well."

What does racing well look like for the Mountain Hawks?

"We want to be a strong pack team," said Etters. "We want to always be at our best when we compete and really make it challenging for our competitors. That's what we want, but I don't think we've been able to do that completely yet. That's what we're working towards."

Etters knows the team's potential is great, and the team is getting closer to reaching that potential every practice and every race. He's happy with the growth and development of his runners this fall.

"More than anything, our real identity, culturally, is that we are there to support each other," he said. "We're committed to being a great team and not just a group of individuals. Every time we compete, every time we practice, those are things we want to hit on and improve."

Last time out, junior Connor Melko was the first Mountain Hawk to finish for the third time in as many meets, placing 129th overall at Paul Short with a time of 25:00.5. He was followed by classmate Tyler French, who was 148th (25:07.3).

Heading into the Princeton Invitational, Etters is looking for more.

"I think this will be a nice rebound opportunity for our top guys, but we also want to see a really tight one-to-five split," he said. "From our first runner to our fifth runner and ultimately our scoring team, we want to see them come in pretty close together. The top teams always have really tight splits."

The Mountain Hawks haven't raced on Princeton's course since Oct. 12, 2018.

"This course is pretty fast," said Etters. "We're going to preview it Friday and we'll race on it Saturday morning. We want to see growth from Paul Short. We need more guys performing at a higher level at the same time. If you see a cross country team that has a bunch of guys performing at a high level at the same time, running as a tight pack, that's what you hope to see."

"It's the race before the conference meet, so it's not what we have circled on our calendars, but it's definitely an important step," Etters continued. "We'll use it to fine-tune some things, work out some things and try some different things, but we know it's not the last chapter."

Following Saturday's action, the Mountain Hawks will look ahead to the Patriot League Championships, hosted on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course on Sunday, Oct. 31. The men's 8K will begin at 12 p.m.