Friday, September 1
Bethlehem, Pa.
5:30 PM
Lehigh University
vs
Lehigh Invitational
Women's Cross Country Places Second At Lehigh Invitational
9/1/2023 9:27:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
Mountain Hawks Place Four In Top 25 Despite Running Eight Athletes
2023 LEHIGH INVITATIONAL WOMEN'S 6K RESULTS
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The 2023 season for Lehigh women's cross country began today on the team's home turf, as the Mountain Hawks hosted the Lehigh Invitational. The Mountain Hawks started their season on a strong note, placing second as a team with four runners finishing in the top-25 despite only running a total of eight athletes at the event.
"One of our goals coming into this meet was trying to focus on Saint Joseph's, because we knew we were only running a half squad," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "We beat them by one point, so that's a good win for the team today. What I liked that I saw from the girls on an individual basis was pretty solid flickers of competitiveness. Honestly that made the difference because a couple of them caught some St. Joe's Hawks on the way in."
Junior Savanah Beavers led the way for the Mountain Hawks, placing ninth overall with a time of 22:15.8. Senior Lindsay MacLellan finished in second for Lehigh and 12th overall with a time of 22:23.8 while senior Abigail Tenreiro rounded out the team's top three with a 22nd place finish and time of 23:04.2.
"I think it's pretty important to note that those top runners were more of our upperclassmen, which is exactly what you would hope," said Utesch. "In doing that, some of those first-years really got to experience what it was like to be on a good, competitive Division I team and see how that translates."
Speaking of first-years, Lehigh ran three of their seven newcomers at today's race. Utesch believes that their experience today will help them tremendously as the season and their young careers progress.
"There's no question that there's a lot of nerves that goes on with the first years, and it's a new distance for them," said Utesch. "I tell them that ignorance is bliss, but also to try to take curiosity to the starting line and see what the training they've been doing all summer up to this point translates to in a Division-I collegiate race experience."
After one half of the Lehigh women's cross country team competed today, the other half will compete at the Harry Lang Invitational hosted by Colgate, which is the site of this year's Patriot League championship. Following this weekend, Lehigh will be back in action on September 16yj to face Lafayette in cross country's latest installment of 'The Rivalry'.
"We have the other half of our squad running up at Colgate tomorrow, so we'll get a glimpse at the rest of our teammates, and we'll all come together for the Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet, which is always such a great team event," said Utesch. "We've been fortunate to have their number for a while, but we can never ever take them lightly. They are a good solid squad and it'll be good to take a shot at stretching the win streak over there."
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2023 Lehigh Invitational Women's 6k Results
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The 2023 season for Lehigh women's cross country began today on the team's home turf, as the Mountain Hawks hosted the Lehigh Invitational. The Mountain Hawks started their season on a strong note, placing second as a team with four runners finishing in the top-25 despite only running a total of eight athletes at the event.
"One of our goals coming into this meet was trying to focus on Saint Joseph's, because we knew we were only running a half squad," said head coach Debbie Utesch. "We beat them by one point, so that's a good win for the team today. What I liked that I saw from the girls on an individual basis was pretty solid flickers of competitiveness. Honestly that made the difference because a couple of them caught some St. Joe's Hawks on the way in."
Junior Savanah Beavers led the way for the Mountain Hawks, placing ninth overall with a time of 22:15.8. Senior Lindsay MacLellan finished in second for Lehigh and 12th overall with a time of 22:23.8 while senior Abigail Tenreiro rounded out the team's top three with a 22nd place finish and time of 23:04.2.
"I think it's pretty important to note that those top runners were more of our upperclassmen, which is exactly what you would hope," said Utesch. "In doing that, some of those first-years really got to experience what it was like to be on a good, competitive Division I team and see how that translates."
Speaking of first-years, Lehigh ran three of their seven newcomers at today's race. Utesch believes that their experience today will help them tremendously as the season and their young careers progress.
"There's no question that there's a lot of nerves that goes on with the first years, and it's a new distance for them," said Utesch. "I tell them that ignorance is bliss, but also to try to take curiosity to the starting line and see what the training they've been doing all summer up to this point translates to in a Division-I collegiate race experience."
After one half of the Lehigh women's cross country team competed today, the other half will compete at the Harry Lang Invitational hosted by Colgate, which is the site of this year's Patriot League championship. Following this weekend, Lehigh will be back in action on September 16yj to face Lafayette in cross country's latest installment of 'The Rivalry'.
"We have the other half of our squad running up at Colgate tomorrow, so we'll get a glimpse at the rest of our teammates, and we'll all come together for the Lehigh-Lafayette dual meet, which is always such a great team event," said Utesch. "We've been fortunate to have their number for a while, but we can never ever take them lightly. They are a good solid squad and it'll be good to take a shot at stretching the win streak over there."
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2023 Lehigh Invitational Women's 6k Results
- Penn, 15
- Lehigh, 73
- Saint Joseph's, 74
- West Virginia, 93
- Moravian, 139
- Muhlenberg, 180
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
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