Reading, PA - The Lehman College men's track and field team racked up 181 points to defeat ten other squads at the Albright College Invitational. Their nearest challenger scored 52. In fact, the Lightning outscored the second- through fifth-place teams' combined score. The women's squad amassed 97 points against a dozen other teams but was just edged by host Albright's 98.
The men dominated on the track. Lightning runners finished 1-2 in the 200, 400, 800, and 3,000 meter events. Those 72 points were more than enough for a team win. Senior
Hakeem Mowatt led the way with victories in the 200 (24.52 seconds) and 400 (55.70) events, edging
Aaron Dickens in each. Senior Josh Roman was the 3,000 victor (9:46.46) and added a win in the mile (4:5.24), while freshman
Xavier Abreu took the 800 (2:15.32). All times were slowed by Albright's small (ten laps to the mile) and slippery track, on which running spikes could not be used. The final Lehman victory of the day came in the mile relay (3:52.0), with Abreu, Dickens, and Mowatt contributing legs.
For the women, event victories came from freshman
Victory Ike in the 55r (7.96), 200 (29.37), and 400 meter (1:06.75) dashes. Freshman
Shanique James was unpressed in winning the 3,000 meter race (13:19.41), and freshman
Glory Odeh chipped in with wins in the 55 meter hurdles (9.72) and 800 meters (2:48.76). Ike, James, and Odeh also ran three of the four legs on the winning mile relay.
The Lightning's performance was marked by efforts in multiple events. On the men's side Abreu, Dickens, and Mowatt all competed in six or seven events, as did freshman
Kuron Williams; similar ironwoman efforts came from Ike and freshman
Chelsea Bristow.
Quotes from assistant coach
Greg Page: "We were very pleased with some great efforts today," commented assistant coach
Greg Page. "We asked for a lot of events from the athletes and they responded well. We knew coming in to the meet that times would be slow; today was about competition. We used this meet as preparation for the CUNYAC championships in two weeks' time. In that meet, we again will have athletes compete in a lot of events, focusing on point production rather than times and distances."