Sept. 29, 2001

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Lafayette men's and women's cross country teams hosted Lehigh in dual meet action on Saturday at Metzgar Fields. Lehigh won the men's action 18-45 and the women's competition 22-36.

On the women's side, junior Rian Landers (Spring Lake, N.J./St. Rose) placed second overall, 16 seconds off the pace of event winner Lucinda Hall. Landers ran a time of 18:48. Senior Lauren McHale (Seaville, N.J./Ocean City) placed fourth for Lafayette in 19:27.

Freshmen Taryn Landers (Spring Lake, N.J./St. Rose) and Mary Gillis (Cornwall, N.Y./Cornwall) also finished in the top 10, in eighth (19:52) and 10th (20:31). Natalie Vavricka scored for Lafayette, placing 14th in 21:20.

On the men's side, senior Ken Poli (Darien, Conn./Darien) continued his strong season, finishing third in the 23-runner field in 27:23. Freshman Matt Taverna (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) placed 10th overall and second on the Lafayette squad.

Freshman Colin McDonough (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe), sophomore Carlos Garcia (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) and freshman Matt Puglisi (West Hempstead, N.Y./Chaminade) finished 15th, 16th and 17th. McDonough ran a time of 29:00, followed by Garcia (29:25) and Puglisi (29:28).

Lehigh's Alex L'Heureux was the overall winner, clocking a time of 26:35.

Lafayette returns to action on Oct. 6 at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh.