Posted: 04/06/2012
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s track and field team is set to visit Lafayette this Saturday to faceoff in a dual meet with action getting underway at 12:00 p.m. Lehigh swept the indoor dual meet with Lafayette in January as the Mountain Hawks haven’t lost to the Leopards in outdoor or indoor competition since April 2010.
“We are hoping for more success this weekend,” said head coach Matt Utesch. “We not only want to step up and do something historic, but we just want to beat our rival.”
Junior Christopher Buck and senior Alexander Mauer led the Mountain Hawks to a fourth place finish at the Lafayette 7 Way last weekend as they each snagged a first and second place finish. Buck won the hammer throw with a distance of 47.75m, and also placed second in the shot put. Mauer took first place in the long jump with a distance of 6.66m, and finished second overall in the high jump as well.
Sophomore Martin Otieno won his section of the 100m dash, while Robert Hugin also captured his section of the 400m hurdles. The men also captured several second place finishes, and added more top-five finishes on the day.
“Our throws are going to be huge,” Utesch said. “We are looking to get a quarter of our total points from our throwers. The hammer, shot put and discus are all super important so our hope is to go 1-2 and complete an 8-3 sweep on points and that’s a big gap to overcome. Those throws are going to be really important for us.”
During the indoor dual meet vs. Lafayette, Lehigh won 97-84 despite finishing first in just seven of 16 total events as the Mountain Hawks used their depth in the track and field events to rack up many second and third place finishes.
“The momentum that we generated indoor, we will start to see that momentum during this meet and into the weekends to follow,” Utesch said. “We have had some good performances outdoor and I think we hit our stride this weekend and everything starts to get faster and better. From this weekend on is where we will really start to see things happen. It’s time now to ratchet it up and our training will follow that.”
While Lehigh battles Lafayette in Easton, the Mountain Hawks will send senior Evans Kosgei to compete in the Stanford Invite. Kosgei will be running the 5,000-meter race Friday at 2:10 p.m. eastern time.
“It’s hard to find talent as good as Evans so we want to take him somewhere he can excel,” Utesch said. “So we are hoping he will go out there and put up a fast time and qualify for Nationals as well.”