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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s and women’s track and field teams opened up the 2022 outdoor season in Philadelphia on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks competed in the Penn Challenge against Cornell, La Salle, Penn, Penn State, Princeton, St. John’s and Villanova.
“Generally speaking, looking at the performances today, it was evident there’s a difference between indoor and outdoor,” said head coach Matt Utesch. “The difference between indoor and outdoor isn’t a bad thing, it’s different being outside in a good way and we’re excited to be back outdoors.”
On the women’s side, Lehigh found success on both the track and field, finishing with three top five finishes. Junior Ashley Griesmeyer finished third in the 100m hurdles with a new PR of 15.07. Senior Chae Kim ran alongside Griesmeyer in the 100m hurdles, finishing fourth with a time of 15.08.
“Ashley works extremely hard and I love seeing her race and become more confident week in and week out,” Utesch said. “I’m excited to see what she does in the future.”
The Mountain Hawks had two first-years start their first outdoor season with strong marks. Lillian Mauger and Lauren Roy both competed in the triple and long jump on Saturday. Mauger finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 11.08m and sixth in the long jump with a mark of 5.50m. The first year also ran in the 400m where she finished with a time of 1:02.86. Roy finished sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.18m and eighth in the long jump with a mark of 5.14m.
“Lillian jumped terrific today,” said Utesch. “She jumped further today than she did in the indoor season. The thing I love about all of the jumpers is that they are so open to changing their technique and improving. I think it’s a hard thing to do [changing technique] but they’re doing a great job encouraging each other and doing something new in their jumps.”
The Lehigh men’s track and field team also found success in its outdoor season debut as well. Coming off of an impressive indoor season, first-year Jonathan Bennett continued to make a name for himself at Lehigh. Bennett finished second in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.55 and sixth in the 100m with a time of 10.78.
“Jonathan ran a great time today,” Utesch said. “He’s eighth on the top 10 list in hurdles. Five more hurdles and 50 more meters makes a huge difference and throughout this season we’re going to see his times drop and drop fast. He’s gonna get faster and faster and it’s exciting to watch . The same goes for all of the hurdlers on both teams.”
Fellow first-year Patrez Thomas also found success at Penn on Saturday. Thomas finished sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.78.
On the field side, the Mountain Hawks had a solid start to the outdoor season. First-years Greg Stagliano and Hunter Rodarmel made their collegiate debuts in the javelin. Stagliano finished with a mark of 50.85m while Rodarmel finished with a mark of 49.41m. Sophomore Sam Weber also had a solid day for Lehigh’s throws group. Weber finished tenth in the shot put with a mark of 12.55m.
“I’m super excited for the young throwers to get out and compete at their first competition,” said Utesch. “We’re all super excited for their future and happy with how well they performed today. I’m excited to watch them grow and become the javelin throwers I think they can be.”
In the jumps, Mulenga Malama continued to add notable marks in his first-year as a Mountain Hawk. Malama finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 12.37m.
The Mountain Hawks will hit the road next weekend for two meets. While some student-athletes will head to the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, NC others will head to the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md.
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