Men's Cross Country Opens 2019 Slate at Lehigh Invitational

Friday, August 30

Bethlehem, Pa.

Temple University

Lehigh Invitational

Men's Cross Country Opens 2019 Slate at Lehigh Invitational

8.30.19 | Men's Cross Country

Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—The Temple men's cross country team has its first race of 2019 under its belt, as the team traversed the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course at the Lehigh Invitational on Friday evening. The squad followed its plan and ran as a group on the 6,000m course as the Owls became familiar with route they will run again at the Mid-Atlantic Regional in November.

From the Coach
> "The boys executed the plan really well, we wanted to group up and run as a pack and get an opportunity to preview the course that we're going to be back on for the regional meet in a couple of months," said head coach James Snyder. "It was nice to see a group of eight of them all packed up together just like we discussed, and it was just a 6K race today so we were able to do a workout on the end afterwards, exploring some parts of the 10K course that are off the path a bit which are going to be important for us later in the season. That was the main goal for the guys—preview the course to be able to see it and be ready to rock and roll the next time we're here for regionals in November."

Race Notes
> Nine Temple runners kicked off their 2019 season at the Lehigh Invitational on Friday evening: David Westcott, Ethan Koza, Sean Egan, Quinn Serfass, Donovan Mears, Zach Seiger, Tom O'Keeffe, Kristian Jensen and Luke Klingenberg. New faces on the roster, Westcott, O'Keeffe, Koza, and Klingenberg, made their first ever appearances in the Cherry and White.
> The Owls executed their planned pack mentality very well, as eight of Temple's nine runners finished within a two-second spread. Westcott finished first for Temple, clocking in at 19:57.82. He was flanked by Koza (19:57.87) and Egan (19:57.88). Serfass (19:58.11) and Mears (19:58.16) crossed the line right after and Seiger (19:58.43), O'Keeffe (19:58.48) and Jensen (19:59.56) were close behind.

Up Next
> The Owls have a three-week hiatus before their next race on Friday, Sept. 20. The Owls will travel to the Bronx to compete in the 25th annual Iona Meet of Champions. Held at Van Cortlandt Park, the men's championship 8K race will go off at 10:00 a.m. and the women's championship 5k race will begin at 10:45 a.m.