BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh cross country teams will resume action on Friday when the top ten runners from both the men’s and women’s teams travel to State College, Pa. for the nationally recognized Penn State National Invite beginning at 10 a.m. The rest of the runners will participate Saturday in the Lafayette Invitational in nearby Easton, Pa. The runners will hit the starting line at 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
The Mountain Hawks are coming off a two week hiatus following the Brooks Paul Short Run at Goodman Campus on October 2. The women, who finished in 30th place, were led by sophomore Katherine Pierce who placed 49th in her race with a time of 21:31. Pierce was followed by Andrea Mascaro, Alexis Weiner, Kaitlin Grimm, Dana Stellar, Megan Hetzel and Samantha Anderson who finished 135, 167, 181, 218, 244 and 252, respectively. The men finished in 32nd place, led by junior Steve Sample who finished 76th with a time of 24:26. Sample was followed by Evan Flach, who finished 144th, Doug Ridyard (170), Evans Kosgei (191) and Andrew Jervis (213).
On the men’s side of the Penn State National Invite it will feature several teams from the various NCAA regions across the country, including nationally ranked and defending champion Georgetown. Other teams competing on Friday are Kentucky, La Salle, Cornell, Duquesne and Division III powerhouse Cortland State.
Lehigh men’s head coach Todd Etters says this will be another great test for his team as they prepare for the Patriot League Championship.
“The Penn State National Invite is a national class competition,” Etters said. “We’re starting to get closer to our peak season and the guys should be running pretty fast. I expect Steve Sample to continue as our front runner and I will look for our pack to close the gap.”
In the women’s race the competition will be even greater as four nationally ranked Division I teams will be competing. No. 3 West Virginia will look to claim victory for the third straight year and others competing will include the host Nittany Lions (No.16), No. 23 Michigan, No. 25 Providence and Division II perennial power Shippensburg.
“Tomorrow will be a good test for the women from a weather standpoint and based on competition,” women’s head coach Debbie Utesch said. “We will face similar conditions to what we will see in a few weeks at the Patriot League Championship so this will test our toughness. We have a few individuals that will be looking to smooth out some things and if we do there is no reason that we can’t catch up to few teams in our region.”
On Saturday the remaining members of both cross country teams will head across town to do battle at Lafayette. The race will serve as an important test to help decide who is going to compete in a few weeks at the league championship.
“The team will have the chance to compete against Lafayette and possibly American,” Utesch said. “It will allow us to get another look at Lafayette and our first possible look at the Eagles. This race is important because even though we’re only going to have 10 runners compete at Penn State doesn’t mean that they’re all a given for the league championship. We’re going to look at the whole season and Saturday’s race will factor into that.”
“Saturday’s race will allow me to determine who will be the last few that we bring to Colgate with us,” Etters said. “It is always good to get back on a course that you’re familiar with and to see the progress that you have made in just over a month.”
Check to back to Lehighsports.com for all of the latest news and results surrounding this weekend’s races.
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