Lehigh places fourth at Patriot League Championships
Posted: 02/19/2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. – For the second straight year, the Lehigh men’s track and field team placed fourth at the Patriot League Championships. Lehigh had some stellar individual performances highlighted by Stephen Tutunjian who was named the male field athlete of the meet after he won the triple jump and long jump. Tutunjian was named to First Team All-Patriot League team while Kyle Forrest earned second team honors.
“It is an excellent track meet and everybody comes and brings their best,” said head coach Matt Utesch. “We scored just about every single point that we could, but came up a little bit short. It’s a little frustrating, but I couldn’t be more proud of all of the efforts. They left everything they had out there and you can’t ask for more.”
After Tutunjian won the long jump on Saturday, he won the triple jump Sunday with an IC4A qualifying distance of 14.71m.
Lehigh’s other All-Leaguer - Kyle Forrest - placed second in the heptathlon Saturday.
In the 200-meter dash, Devin Monroe placed fourth to earn four points for the Mountain Hawks as he finished with a time of 22.31, just missing an IC4A qualifying time of 22.24. Martin Otieno placed sixth in the event to earn one point with a time of 22.38.
Monroe and Otieno were also part of Lehigh’s 4X400-meter relay time that placed third for six points and qualified for the IC4As with a time of 3:19.07. The duo was joined by John Ciavardelli and Justin Mahoney.
Mahoney then took fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.06 to earn four points for the Mountain Hawks.
In the men’s distance medley, the team of Kenneth Wilkinson, Seth Robinson, Daniel Paez and Samuel Bernitt placed third for six points with an IC4A qualifying time of 10:10.31.
Bernitt also qualified for the IC4As in the mile run after finishing fourth with a time of 4:14.63 to earn four points for Lehigh.
In the shot put, Christopher Buck placed sixth to earn two points with a distance of 15.00m.
Bucknell won the title with 185 points while Navy, the defending champion, finished second with 176.5 points. Army placed third with 106 points and behind Lehigh, was Lafayette (41.25), Colgate (65), American (10) and Holy Cross (7).
Lehigh will return to action in two weeks when the Mountain Hawks compete at the ECAC Championships in Boston, Mass. on March 2-3.
Patriot League Championship final standings
1. Bucknell (185 points)
2. Navy (176.25)
3. Army (106)
4. Lehigh (65)
5. Lafayette (41.25)
6. Colgate (29.50)
7. American (10)
8. Holy Cross (7)