EASTON, Pa. – Junior
Connor Melko and graduate student
Seth Slavin finished first and second, respectively, to pace the Lehigh men's cross country team in its 22nd straight victory over Lafayette on Saturday in Easton. The Mountain Hawks finished with a low team score of 23, compared to the Leopards' score of 32, to retain the Bryan Mundy Trophy. Lehigh featured four of the first six finishers overall in an impressive all-around effort.
"It was a tough battle and that's what we expected," said Lehigh head coach
Todd Etters. "We thought it was going to be a really hard, tightly-contested race. The heat and humidity really played a big factor. Running in cornfields in that kind of heat and humidity made it that much worse. We thought we were better up front. Both of our guys, Connor and Seth, did a great job up front, and then our depth came through. I saw a tough race and I'm glad we came out the way we did."
Melko was Lehigh's top finisher for the second time in as many meets, after placing fifth overall at the Lehigh Invitational to earn Patriot League Male Runner of the Week. He finished this Saturday's 8K in 25:24.34.
Right behind Melko was Slavin, who came in 25:40.29.
"I knew our team had the best shot of winning today if I won the race," said Melko. "Seth and I just worked the first two miles, then at the top of the first hill, I felt good. I broke the race open from there and came down and won. It was nice to see Seth finish right behind me in second."
After Lafayette runners came in third and fourth, junior
Tyler French and senior
Nick Wilson placed fifth and sixth with times of 26:10.47 and 26:16.68, respectively. Rounding out the Mountain Hawks' top seven was graduate student
Brad DeMassa in ninth (26:33.39), junior
Thomas Leitner in 12th (26:48.25) and freshman
Kevin Harvey in 13th (27:02.67).
Adding to the significance of Saturday's strong performance was the fact that it was against Lafayette.
"This is one I think we'll remember for a long time," said Etters. "We've been on a roll against them They know that; we know that. The overall series is really in Lehigh's favor, but it doesn't change the fact that you've got to show up and treat your rival with respect and bring your A game.
"I think we weren't quite at our A game status today, but we were pretty close," Etters continued. "The effort was there, and we just have to clean up a few things. Today was about the will of the guys to keep pushing hard, and they did a good job with that."
Going into the day, Melko knew the team would have to run well to beat the Leopards, and they did just that.
"We knew they have a good team this year," he said. "They beat us at Patriots last year. We knew it was going to be a close race, but we had good training and we had confidence. We came out here and got it done."
The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Friday, Oct. 1 when they host the 47th annual Paul Short Run presented by ASICS.
Gallery: (9-19-2021) Men's Cross Country at Lafayette, 9/19/21
