Posted: 01/27/2012
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men’s track and field team will host rival Lafayette Saturday in a dual meet that is set to begin at 2 p.m. at Rauch Fieldhouse. The Mountain Hawks will look to keep their momentum going as they are coming off a first-place finish at the Mountain Hawk Invite. At last year’s dual with the Leopards, Lehigh came out on top 107-74 and the Mountain Hawks will look for the same result Saturday.
Saturday’s meet will be the 22nd dual meet between the schools as Lafayette holds an 8-13 all-time advantage.
At last year’s Lehigh-Lafayette dual, the Mountain Hawks won five of the six field events as Steven Tutunjian, who was named the Male Field Athlete of the Meet, capturing first in the long jump and triple jump, posting distances of 7.12 meters and 15.06 meters, respectively. Patrick Ciez won the high jump while Christopher Buck took first in the shot put and weight throw.
Lehigh also won seven track events including the 60-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, 500-meter dash, 800-meter run, 1,000-meter run and 3,000-meter run. Martin Otieno was named the Male Track Athlete of the Meet winning the 60-meter dash and finishing in second place in the 200-meter dash.
Lehigh most recently won the 13-team Mountain Hawk Invite last weekend as Lehigh dominated the field with 202 points. Lehigh had a lot of standout performances highlighted by senior Stephen Tutunjian who broke a 30-year school record in the triple jump.
Tutunjian improved to 4-0 in the triple jump in impressive fashion. His 15.35 meter jump crushed the school record of 15.08 meters which was set by Larry Mercabdante in 1982. Tutunjian also finished second in the long jump with a distance of 7.09 meters. Both distances were IC4A qualifying distances, but Tutunjian has already qualified in both events in meets earlier this season.
Lehigh had four new athletes qualify for IC4As as senior Stephen Rumizen and freshman Adeolu Adesida finished 1-2 in the high jump with qualifying distances of 2.04m. The Mountain Hawks now have three qualifiers in the high jump as the duo joins sophomore Patrick Ciez who qualified in a meet earlier this season.
Kyle Forrest and Ryan Paquin also added their names to the list of IC4A qualifiers as the duo finished 1-2 in the heptathlon both with personal records. Forrest finished with a total of 4855, surpassing his previous PR of 4650 while Paquin finished just three back as his 4822 surpassed his previous PR of 4646.
Prior to Saturday’s dual meet, a banquet will be held honoring the 1992 Women’s Cross Country Team which was Lehigh’s first Patriot League Championship team.
After Saturday, Lehigh will compete Friday, February 3rd at the New Balance Invitational at the New York City Armory with competition set to begin at 10:50 a.m.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Field Events
2:00PM Men's Pole Vault (Women’s PV to follow)
Women's 20lb Weight (Men’s 35lb WT to follow)
Women's High Jump (Men’s HJ to follow)
Men's Long Jump (Women’s LJ to follow)
Women's Shot Put (Following Men’s WT)
Men's Shot Put (Following Women's SP)
Men's Triple Jump (Following Women’s LJ)
Women's Triple Jump (Following Men’s TJ)
Track Events
3:30PM Women's One Mile Run
3:40PM Men's One Mile Run
3:50PM Women's 60m Hurdles
3:55PM Men's 60m High Hurdles
4:00PM Women's 400m Dash
4:05PM Men's 400m Dash
4:10PM Women's 500m Dash
4:15PM Men's 500m Dash
4:20PM Women's 60m Dash
4:25PM Men's 60m Dash
4:30PM Women's 800m Run
4:40PM Men's 800m Run (1 Turn Stagger)
4:50PM Women's 1000m Run
5:00PM Men's 1000m Run
5:10PM Women's 200m Dash
5:15PM Men's 200m Dash
5:20PM Women's 3000m Run
5:35PM Men's 3000m Run
5:45PM Women's 4 x 400m Relay
5:50PM Men's 4 x 400m Relay
5:55PM Women's 4 x 800m Relay
6:05PM Men's 4 x 800m Relay