The Lehigh-Lafayette Rivalry is heavily focused on each school’s football program, however, the tradition carries over to the entire athletic community. The Brown and White sat down with members of other sports teams at Lehigh to discuss the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry beyond the gridiron.
Q: Though football is the most discussed sport in the Le-Laf Rivalry, what does the Rivalry mean to you in your sport?
Owen Quinn, junior, men’s golf: With golf, our match against Lafayette is one we look forward to each year. We all want to represent the athletic department and school as a whole, and there’s no better way to do so than beating Lafayette. Because of the history between the two schools, we all take so much pride in being able to compete to continue Lehigh’s success in this rivalry.
Marissa Wagner, junior, women’s swimming and diving: We have our meet against Lafayette the Friday night of Le-Laf, the night before the football game. It’s kind of awesome because the entire campus is just full of energy that week and we definitely feed off it and the whole week, we just spend (time) getting pumped to destroy them in the pool. When it gets to the actual meet, we are all just so excited that it doesn’t even matter how we feel or what our times are, because at the end of the day, we got to be part of the amazing tradition that few collegiate athletes ever experience. At the meet, our goal is to 1-2-3 them in every race, and the alumni come with brooms whenever we sweep them. The amount of energy that is packed into the pool area is nothing like you’ve ever felt before.
Dylan Ammerman, junior, men’s wrestling: I believe the Rivalry is strong within our sport. We appreciate all the hype around our matches with Lafayette because it makes for a fun, competitive environment. Lehigh wrestling has been undefeated against Lafayette for at least the past six years, but the Lafayette team looks strong this year. Guys like Mike Hunt, at 133 pounds, and Harry Wydbox at 149 will give our guys some tough competition, but I believe we’re ready to extend the undefeated streak.
Kaja Skerlj, sophomore, women’s track and field: Le-Laf is definitely one of the most memorable and fun meets in (the) track and field season. The Rivalry and the team spirit pushes us to run, jump and throw our personal bests and beat Lafayette by the largest margin (possible).
Gustav Masch, sophomore, men’s rowing: For us, the Rivalry with Lafayette is during our spring season. Our biggest competition against them is specifically a regatta named the River Cup, which is a head race that has been going on since the very beginning of Lehigh Rowing itself, more than 30 years ago. Even though we compete against them in other bigger regattas, the most important race in a Lehigh-Lafayette Rivalry point of view is undoubtedly the River Cup.
Gena Grundhoffer, junior, women’s basketball: The Rivalry is fun because it carries over into all the other sports. It’s really cool to be a part of it, and I know that as a team, we really look forward to it every year. Every time (Lehigh plays Lafayette) there is just a different feel to the game. It makes the game so much more competitive and fun. It’s really awesome to be a part of it.
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