BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After its ninth straight win over Lafayette last Saturday at Rauch Fieldhouse, the Lehigh men’s track and field team will travel to the Armory in New York City for the Scarlet Knight Open. The Mountain Hawks will compete in their first two-day meet of the season as the Patriot League Championship on Feb. 25-26 quickly approaches.
Last time out, Lehigh hosted Lafayette in its final home meet of the season, defeating the Leopards 118-60. The Mountain Hawks finished their annual rivalry meet with wins in 14 of 17 events and an all-time best nine sweeps.
In field events, Lehigh’s throwers and jumpers continued to dominate, with six Mountain Hawks adding their names to the all-time top ten list. On the throwing side, the sophomore Liam Lovering became third all-time in the shot put and fourth all-time in the shot put. Lovering won the shot put (16.62m) and finished second in the shot put (17.45m).
In weight loss, senior Quinn Conlan and junior Akil Mouzakis both added their names to Lehigh’s top ten list. Conlan’s mark of 16.58m ranked him sixth all-time, while Mouzaki’s mark of 16.57m ranked him seventh all-time. The second student Alex Clevenger added his name to the top ten list in the shot put, ranking seventh all-time with a mark of 16.16m.
Lehigh’s javelin throwers showed no signs of slowing down as two student-athletes added their names to the all-time list. Junior Conor Reillywho won the pole vault with a mark of 4.83m, now ranks fourth all-time as a freshman Carter Bartz is ranked ninth all-time in his second place with a mark of 4.68m.
While the Mountain Hawks dominated the field against Lafayette, they kept up the energy on the track, winning nine events and adding two more all-time finishes. Senior Connor Fairly earned Lehigh’s first track win Saturday, winning the mile with an IC4A qualifying time of 4:14.42.
After Melko’s victory in the mile, Lehigh won the next three track events, extending its lead over Lafayette. Senior Thank you Ayhan went on to make his final season as a Mountain Hawk counter. Ayhan, who broke the school record in the 1,000 meters at the Villanova Invitational, won the 800 meters with an IC4A qualifying time of 1:53.50 to rank eighth all-time.
Lehigh finished its final home meet of the year by claiming first place in the final three races of the day. Senior Tyler French picked up the Mountain Hawks’ final individual win in the 3,000m, winning the race with a time of 8:33.31. After French won the 3,000m, Lehigh’s 4×400 relay and 4×800 relay took home the final two wins of the day.
Racing will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Track events will begin at 11am on Friday and 10.30am on Saturday. Live results can be found here.
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