Burke, DMR Team Win Gold on Final Day of Patriot League Championships

Saturday, February 26

Lewisburg, Pa.

11:00 AM

Lehigh University

Patriot League Championships

Burke, DMR Team Win Gold on Final Day of Patriot League Championships

2/27/2022 9:10:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Patriot League Championship Results Saturday Recap

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Three school records was not enough for senior Kyle Burke. Burke was one of Lehigh's two first-place finishers to win gold on Sunday at the Patriot League Championships. Burke won the 800m finals with a new school record of 1:50.84. The distance medley relay team was the second member of the Lehigh men's track and field team to win gold at Bucknell's Gerhard Fieldhouse. The relay team made up of Burke, Brandtson Duffie, Jacob Martinez and Kerem Ayhan finished with a time of 9:59.17.

Lehigh finished fourth overall with 65 points at Bucknell over the weekend. Navy swept the Patriot League Championships with the men's team finishing with 264 points and the women's team finishing with 202 points.

The Mountain Hawks concluded the indoor season with some impressive performances, earning points in 11 of the 18 events over the weekend.

"If Lehigh had to pick an athlete of the meet it would probably be Kyle," said head coach Matt Utesch. "We're super proud of him. It was exciting to watch him today and it was exciting to see all the hard work that kids put in come out today."

On the track side, Lehigh earned points in five track events on Sunday. Burke's first-place finish in the 800m provided Lehigh with ten team points. Junior Jacob Martinez finished fourth in the 800m (1:53.48), earning an extra five points for the team. Junior Connor Melko finished eighth overall in the 3000m with a time of 8:28.48, contributing a point to Lehigh's team score.

"Kyle Burke and Jake Martinez had a phenomenal weekend," Utesch said. "They were exciting to watch and they're just an amazing group of guys. It's a huge testimony to how great our staff is."

First-year Jonathan Bennett showed no signs of nerves in his first Patriot League Championships. Bennett broke his own school record in the 60m hurdles, finishing fifth with a time of 8.07. Later on in the meet, the first-year finished sixth in the 60m with a time of 6.94 to make him second all-time in Lehigh history.

"I think if all goes the way we plan, we're gonna be talking about Jon Bennett breaking records for quite a long time and I don't have any problem with that at all," said Utesch.

The 4x400 relay team contributed to Lehigh's overall score on Sunday. First-year Patrez Thomas had a strong start for the relay team before passing the baton to junior Douglas Cooke. Junior Thomas Leitner followed Cooke before passing the baton off to senior Harrison Ernst to wrap up the race. The relay team finished fifth with a time of 3:25.16.

The Mountain Hawks continued to show improvement on the field side, scoring in three field events on Sunday. Leading the way was junior Ian Scott who placed second in the long jump with a huge PR of 14.62m. Scott also finished sixth in the high jump, tying his PR of 1.97m.

"Ian did not practice all week because of an injury and he walked in Gerhard Fieldhouse and was magically healed," said Utesch. "Credit to (Director of Sports Medicine) Tim Doane for progressing him and helping him get healthy and PR multiple times in the triple jump. Ian had great jumps in the high jump and overall it was a huge gutsy effort by the kid."

First-year Skyler Mott finished the indoor season with impressive marks. Mott, who walked on to the team earlier this year, placed fifth in the high jump with a new PR of 1.97m. In the long jump, the first-year grabbed another huge PR, finishing eighth overall with a mark of 13.20m.

"I'm really happy with where Sklyer was and where all our first-years are," Utesch said. "If you look at the scoring, you'll see we scored in every event area and it says a lot about the quality of our team and our staff. I'm so pleased with where our staff is right now. They have a lot of wisdom and talent and if you look at the PRs from this weekend, I think we had more PRs than people on the roster so I can't say enough good things about the staff across the board."

On the throws side, sophomore Alex Clevenger and first-year Liam Lovering finished with two huge PRs in the shot put. Clevenger finished sixth with a mark of 15.31m while Lovering finished eighth with a mark of 15.06m. The duo contributed four points to Lehigh's team score.

The Mountain Hawks will take a break from competing to prepare for the outdoor season. Lehigh will begin its outdoor season on March 18-19 at the UCF Spring Break Invitational in Orlando, Fla.