Posted: 05/03/2012
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women’s track and field team will head to Worcester, Mass. this weekend to compete in the Patriot League Outdoor Championships. The Mountain Hawks have had a stellar outdoor season and will look to continue to ride the momentum into the meet they have been training for all season. The Championships will begin Friday at 9 a.m. and start up again on Saturday at 11 a.m.
"There is a lot of anticipation; this is what we have been working towards all season," said head coach Matt Utesch. "We are excited to get going and I think everyone is chomping at the bit to do what we’ve been waiting to do."
Lehigh has had a stellar outdoor season heading into this weekend. The Mountain Hawks have set numerous school records, defeated Lafayette in a dual meet and are recently coming off a historic weekend at the Penn Relays.
The 4X400m relay team took home a medal, one of the first relay medals at the Penn Relays in the Utesch-era, for winning its heat. That 4X400m relay team of Danielle Albergo, Khaaleedah Smith, Melissa Knapp and Kristin Slotnick ran a school record time of 3:52.91, surpassing the previous record of 3:53.08 which was set in 2008.
The DMR team at the Penn Relays of Julia Perry, Elizabeth McManus, Jessica Kendzor and Savannah Plombon also set a new school record with a time of 11:51.27.
E’Lana Lemon threw 51.12m to qualify her for the ECAC Championships while Jamil Ataman threw 49.4m in the hammer throw as the duo placed 15th and 19th, respectively. Katherine Pierce ran 9:54.68 in the 3000m Championship race which qualified her for the ECAC Championships, surpassing the time of 9:56.24 needed.
At the Lehigh Games, the Mountain Hawks continued to shine, winning four events including a pair by Rebecca Duhamel in the discus and the shot put.
On April 7, Lehigh defeated Lafayette 116-87 in a dual meet as the Mountain Hawks won 12 events to continue their success against the Leopards; like the men’s team, it’s been two full years since the squad’s last loss to Lafayette (including indoor and outdoor).
At the 2011 Outdoor Championships, Lehigh placed third with 84 points Bucknell and Navy. The Mountain Hawks had a pair of Patriot League Champions in Alexandra Doersam and Katherine Pierce. Doersam won the long jump with a distance of 6.03m, which set a new Patriot League Outdoor Championship record. Pierce placed first in the 10,000m run with a time of 36:22.58.
"We have someone who will score well in almost every event this year and we are a really well-balanced team," Utesch said. "Unfortunately, we are going against some other really strong and well-balanced teams. I think we will have a good number of Patriot League Champions and they stand to do some really great things."