Lehigh hosts rival Lafayette in dual meet Friday
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Men's Cross Country
Posted: 09/22/2011
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s cross country team will renew its annual rivalry with Lafayette when it hosts the Leopards in a dual meet Friday at 6:15 p.m. The Mountain Hawks have won 12 straight dual meets against Lafayette, the most recent a 17-46 win last year. The men’s team will look to kick off the 2011-2012 edition of the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry with a victory, something they take a lot of pride in.
“It’s an honor for us to get the rivalry started within the department,” said head coach Todd Etters. “Lafayette is always tough competition and we don’t take them lightly but hopefully we can make it 13 in a row this year.”
In its first race of the season, Lehigh won the Lehigh Invitational with a perfect score of 15 as the Mountain Hawks placed six runners in the top 10 including the first five spots. Sophomore Jimmy Miller led the way taking first with a time of 18:45.80 while senior Evan Flach placed second, seniors Evans Kosgei third, sophomore Sam Bernitt fourth and sophomore Tyler Mueller fifth.
Freshman Ryan Mahalsky finished ninth overall in the race with a time of 19:04.20 and was the only freshman to finish in the Top 13. For his efforts, he was named the Patriot League Rookie Runner of the Week.
Lafayette was also in that race as it finished in third place.
“We were pleased with how we matched up against them from a results standpoint, but a 10 team field is different than head-to-head,” said Etters. “We will hope to utilize our experience from that first meet and our depth which certainly counts a lot not in scoring but it can mentality wear on an opponent.”