Lehigh Cross Country runs on 50 years of tradition

Awaiting the firing of the starting pistol, 7,000 athletes from across the country line up on the track.  

Marking the 50th annual Paul Short Run, Lehigh’s cross country team gathered at Goodman campus for the race dedicated to Paul Short, ‘34, the former assistant director of athletics for 29 years.

During his undergraduate years at Lehigh, Short was a multi-sport student-athlete, serving as the captain of the football team for two years, a member of the men’s wrestling team, men’s lacrosse team, baseball team and a devoted fan of cross country and track and field. 

The run is a weekend-long event that serves as a celebration of the cross country and track and field community at Lehigh. Alumni return to campus to reunite with their teams and commemorate the event. 

Junior Lucy Afanasewicz said between the men’s and women’s teams, there were around 72 alums at the race. 

“There’s a big push for everybody to come back, and it’s just really awesome to reconnect with everybody,” Afanasewicz said. 

Afanasewicz said the race  gives the Mountain Hawks a chance to compete against top programs and schools. 

Teams from all over the country came to Lehigh to participate, including high-ranked schools such as Miami University, SDSU, UNC, Johns Hopkins and Texas A&M. 

“There was definitely a big celebration around the history of the event, ” Dan Malatesta, junior on the men’s cross country team said. “It was really fun to see everyone and gather around the event.”

Malatesta said the main difference in the 50th-anniversary edition of the meet was the expansion of the weekend. For the first time ever, the race was split over two days — the high school races took place on Friday, Oct. 4, and the collegiate races on Saturday, Oct. 5. 

Due to the high volume of athletes at the event, the teams were placed into different races — either the Gold Race, the Brown Race or the Green Race, depending on rankings. 

Lehigh cross country competed in the Gold Race, in which the women’s team ran a 6K, and the men’s team ran an 8K. 

The women’s team placed 25th out of 42 teams, and the men placed 34th out of 44 teams. 

There was also an Open Race available, in which 19 alumni participated. 

Afanasewicz finished first out of Lehigh runners in the women’s leg. 

She said she’s happy with her placement, especially since the event holds so much tradition. 

“We put ourselves in a really good place compared to our regional and Patriot League competitors,” Sophomore Aurora Wilson said. “We set ourselves up for hopefully an exciting end-of-season tournament.”

Wilson said it was the most alumni who have ever attended the race. 

To honor the 50th anniversary, four generations of Paul Shorts’ family came to campus to watch the race. 

While the alumni compete in a different division then current student athletes, Afanasewicz said it would’ve been cool to compete against athletes who were on the team five to ten years ago. 

“Being a junior now, there’s girls coming back that I was on the team with when I was a freshman,” Afanasewicz said. 

The cross country and track coaches started planning the Paul Short Weekend over the summer, and Wilson said they put in extra effort this year to make it special. 

“This year was really different in a lot of ways,” Wilson said.  “A huge piece was the alumni, and I don’t know if the other schools noticed as much.”