Lehigh University Men's Cross Country

The 2025 season marks Debbie Utesch’s 29th year with the Lehigh cross country and track and field programs. She has served as the head women’s cross country coach since 1996, and also served as the head men’s coach until prior to the start of the 2008 season, when her former runner Todd Etters ’02 was appointed head coach of the men. Utesch has coached two female national qualifiers in cross country, including Jen Schappert in 2005 and All-American Elizabeth Weiler in 2014. She has also earned one Patriot League Coach of the Year honor. During the 2021 season, Utesch led the Mountain Hawks to a fifth-place finish at the Patriot League Championships. Lehigh finished 17th at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and defeated rival Lafayette for the 16th consecutive time. While the Mountain Hawks succeeded on the cross country course, they continued to excel in the classroom. Lehigh was named USTFCCCA All-Academic Team and had 17 student-athletes named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. Senior Kara Bonner was named Patriot League Sportsmanship Award winner for her leadership within the cross country and track and field programs. Lehigh had its 2020 season pushed to the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Utesch led the Mountain Hawks to a sixth-place finish at the Patriot League Championship where Jamie Zamrin finished 12th overall to be named second team All-Patriot League. Lehigh went on to earn USTFCCCA All-Academic honors as well. Lehigh took fifth place at the Pat

Christopher Torpey joined the Lehigh cross country coaching staff in September 2025. Torpey got his start in coaching at the high school level. In 2021, he b...

Gavin Richards joined the Lehigh cross country coaching staff in September 2025. Before securing his first coaching role, Richards competed at Rutgers from 2022 to 2025 as a mile and 800m runner. At Rutgers, he was a captain for three years and competed at 11 Big 10 championships across three sports. He was also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee from 2022-2024. Richards graduated with a B.S. in Exercise Science from Rutgers as well as a M.S. in Healthcare Analytics. The Annandale, N.J. native began running in middle school, and was coached by professional runners, some of whom went on to be Olympians. He competed for North Hunterdon High School in New Jersey and was a two-time State Group champion in the 1600m. Richards was drawn to coaching because of the positive influences coaches had consistently been throughout his running journey. He had consistently looked up to the coaches in his life and grew an appreciation for what they did and wanted to join the field because of that.

Karem Ayhan joined the Lehigh coaching staff in 2024 as a volunteer assistant coach with track and field and cross country. Ayhan was a member of the Mountain Hawks as an athlete starting in the 2019-2020 season, graduating in 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in architecture. He was a member of the 2022 Patriot League Indoor Champion distance medley relay team, and won three individual Patriot League 800 meter medals in the 2022 outdoor, 2023 indoor, and 2023 outdoor seasons. He was also a member of the 2023 Patriot League All-Academic team. He is Lehigh’s school record holder in the indoor 800m, indoor 1000m, and the indoor 4x800m relay. After Lehigh, he spent one year at Northeastern University earning a Graduate Study Focus in construction management. Competing there, he was the Coastal Athletic Association 2024 indoor 800m champion and outdoor 800m silver medalist. He was also a NCAA East Regional Qualifier Academic All-American that same year. On the club level, he is the indoor and outdoor 800 meter record holder for Garden State Track Club. Internationally, he holds the 600 meter Turkish national record at 1:15.68. Ayhan brings a professional-level understanding of middle-distance performance and integrates that experience into daily training expectations. His transition into coaching was driven by a desire to translate elite competitive experience into structured, individualized development for athletes. Having balanced Division I athletics with rigorous academics, he is