CENTER VALLEY, Pa. (3/20/09)—The Colgate University men’s track and field team heads into the 2009 outdoor season picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League in a vote of the league’s coaches and sports information directors. Colgate earned 24 points to edge Holy Cross for the No. 7 spot.
Navy tops out the poll with 96 points and 12 first-place votes. Army is second with 82 points and two first-place tallies, while Bucknell is third with 80 points and the final two top votes. Lehigh fills the No. 4 position with 60 points while American and Lafayette tied for fifth with 44 points. Holy Cross took the final spot with 16 points, respectively.
Colgate finished fifth in the eight-team field at the 2008 Patriot League Outdoor Championship meet, a two-spot improvement from the previous year.
Junior Lyle Tolli (Lockport, N.Y.) turned in a personal-best time of 3:44.22 to finish fourth overall and earn a spot in the NCAA Regional Championship in Tallahassee, Fla. at the end of May. He bested his previous best time by nearly four seconds to move up to second on the Colgate records list. All-American Ray Appenheimer holds the record with a time of 3:44.02. He followed that performance up with a third-place showing in the 5,000. He clocked in at 14:59.26 to earn six points for the Raiders.
The Raiders kick off the outdoor season on March 28, at Navy.
2008 Patriot League Preseason Men's Outdoor Track and Field Poll
Team (First-Place Votes), Points
1. Army 96 (12)
2. Navy 82 (2)
3. Bucknell 80 (2)
4. Lehigh 60
5. American 44
5. Lafayette 44
7. Colgate 24
8. Holy Cross 16