Handful of Mountain Hawks Earn Personal Records at Philadelphia Metro

Friday, February 20

Philadelphia, Pa.

Lehigh University

Philadelphia Metro

Photo by: Don Paul

Handful of Mountain Hawks Earn Personal Records at Philadelphia Metro

2/20/2026 8:45:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Results

PHILADELPHIA - Lehigh traveled to the Ott Center in Philadelphia for the fourth and final time for the indoor season. The Mountain Hawks were one of eight teams who participated at the Philadelphia Metro on Friday.

The throwing events started off the meet by way of the weight throw. First-year Chance Stuart placed third in that event, throwing 16.72 meters. In the other throwing event, the shot put, senior Joseph Nowakowski placed sixth throwing 16.40 meters.

Sophomore Jaden Ferguson and first-year Konstantinos Panagopoulos each earned a pair podium finishes across the three jumping events. They both reached the podium in the long jump, with Ferguson taking second with a 6.96-meter jump, edging out Panagopoulos' third place personal record breaking 6.94-meter leap. Panagopoulos also took third off the back of a personal record jump in the triple jump, soaring 13.73 meters. Ferguson took bronze in the high jump, clearing the 1.98 meter bar.

Sophomore Sayyidakbar Akbarov jumped 4.74 in the pole vault, placing fourth overall. Junior Nathan Oliphant took fourth as well in the 60 meter hurdles, running 8.35.

Lehigh's top runners in each of the two long sprint events both earned personal bests. First-year Mekhi Britt did so in the 500 meter race, running 1:05.88. He placed fifth in the event, and broke onto Lehigh's all-time indoor performance list at 10th. Peter Priestner broke his personal record in the 400 meter dash. He improved his record by over a record, finishing in 50.15 to place eighth.

The top Mountain Hawk athletes in the distance events all set new personal records. Sophomores Ben Connell and Isaac Greene got it started in the mile, finishing back-to-back in 13th and 14th. Connell ran 4:18.23 and Green clocked 4:18.61. Ian Zalewski led the way in the 800, placing fifth in 1:54.20. First-year Miles Brekhus' new personal record of 1:56.06 earned him ninth place in the event. Senior Max Leffler broke the coveted two-minute mark for the first time, smashing his personal record by four seconds by finishing in 1:56.48 (10th). The 3000 meter run was the final individual event on the track, and it contained two top five finishes and two new personal bests from Lehigh runners. Senior Adam Barbato was the runner up in the event, running 8:36.32. Junior Derek Coceano took fifth, running 8:45.45.

To conclude the meet, Lehigh finished fourth in the 4x400 meter relay. The team of Priestner, Brekhus, Nick Bressi, and Logan Haverkamp ran 3:21.79.

Lehigh's next and final indoor meet comes next weekend. The Mountain Hawks will compete in the Patriot League Championships in Boston, February 28 and March 1.