June 12, 2008

10K Results

DES MOINES, IA- Racing in the last NCAA Championship race in his storied La Salle University running career, Explorer senior Sean Quigley (Braintree, MA/ Archbishop Williams) finished sixth in the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships 10K event on Thursday night in 29:03.27, held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. 

He finished as the second-fastest American, bested only by Weber State's Seth Pilkington (28:51.81).  He earned All-American status for the seventh time as a La Salle student-athlete.   

"It's a lot more bitter than sweet, but after leading for most of the race I got passed with two laps to go," said a disappointed Quigley on running his last NCAA Championship race. 

Texas A&M- Corpus Christi's Shadrack Songok- a Kenyan native- won the race for the second year in a row (28:46.69), nine seconds slower then his 2007 winning time. 

"These races are usually very tactical which is why times are slower, you don't usually get all these people in the same place at the same time," said La Salle Head Track & Field Coach Charles Torpey.

Quigley's 29:03.27 time was nearly one minute slower than his fastest time this year (28:03.72). 

With the NCAA season behind him, Quigley can now focus on the Olympic Trials, where he could potentially face Pilkington again in the 10K.

"I don't want to finish this year on that note, I'm hoping to come back strong at Trials," said Quigley.