Cunningham Breaks Two School Records, Leads Mountain Hawks in Dominant Performances

Saturday, January 22

Staten Island, N.Y.

TBA

Lehigh University

Villanova Open

Photo by: Don Paul

Cunningham Breaks Two School Records, Leads Mountain Hawks in Dominant Performances

1/22/2022 8:13:00 PM | Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – One school record was not enough for Melissa Cunningham on Saturday. The first-year broke school records in both the 60m (7.74) and the 200m (25.47) in just her third collegiate meet at the Villanova Invitational. Cunningham led Lehigh in its dominating performances. While some of the Mountain Hawks competed at the John Covert Classic hosted by Moravian at Rauch Fieldhouse, the rest of the team competed in Staten Island, N.Y. at the Villanova Invitational.

"Melissa is young, however she is clearly very talented and our staff, team and alumni are very excited to watch as she masters her craft and becomes more refined," said head coach Matt Utesch. "Coach Brooke Astor's record went down today and no one was happier to see that than Brooke."

Lehigh competed against over 20 teams at Rauch Fieldhouse, while the Villanova Invitational had several high-quality teams and organizations compete in Staten Island. Lehigh concluded Saturday with positive takeaways at both events, finishing with 23 personal records.

The sprints and mid-distance group followed in Cunningham's footsteps with dominant performances on Saturday. First-year Stephanie Webb (25.82) and seniors Camari Griffin (25.91) and Kaja Skerlj (26.02) all competed with Cunningham in the 200m and each earned their own PR as well.

Skerlj earned another PR in the 400m (58.87) along with sophomore Jordyn Hock (1:00.58). In the mid-distance groups, senior Julia Dorley had an impressive race in the 800m where she finished second with a new PR of 2:14.00. Elena Perez-Segnini (2:18.33) and Hetty McMillan (2:56.71) both finished fifth in the 800m and 1000m, respectively.

For the distance group, senior Jade Sessions led the way for the Mountain Hawks with a sixth-place finish in the mile (4:57.68). Senior Kara Bonner (5:04.94) and junior Andrea Miller (5:13.45) finished eighth and 16th, respectively, while both grabbing PRs.

The jumps group led the way for the Mountain Hawks on Saturday across the two events. Four student-athletes including Avery Roze (5.11m), Chelsi Chevannes (5.07m), Lauren Roy (4.97m) and Rachel Caldwell-Glixon (4.81m) all earned personal bests in the long jump on Saturday at Rauch Fieldhouse.

Casey Talamini-Kelemen earned two more PRs at the Villanova Invitational. The first-year grabbed a third place finish and a new PR in the triple jump (11.66m) and also earned a new PR in the pole vault (3.40m).
"The jump squad has progressed from meets we use to shake the rust off to meets where we need to produce marks," said Utesch. "They have strengthened their approaches and we are dropping the reins a little. The result is personal records and I am so pleased with how they performed today."

Senior Teasha McKoy led Lehigh's throws group on Saturday. McKoy finished third in the weight throw (16.61m) and seventh in the shot put (13.17m). First-year Giuliana Bottino finished fifth in the weight throw at the Covert Classic (10.21m).

Lehigh takes on Lafayette on Saturday at Rauch Fieldhouse in The Rivalry presented by the Lehigh Valley Health Network.