Nov. 14, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Sophomore Tyler Jones earned All-Region honors as he led the La Salle cross country team at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, MD, on Saturday.
The Explorer men finished fifth in the region, bettering their most recent Mid-Atlantic ranking of No. 8. They topped Princeton, American and Bucknell to surpass those three squads in the regional standings, and were just two points shy of regional number four Navy. Georgetown, Villanova, Saint Joseph's and Navy were the top four.
Jones ran to 15th place individually out of 197 runners as he was the first Explorer to cross the finish line. He clocked a 32:30.0 on the nor'easter soaked 10K course to earn the first all-region honors of his career. Runners who finish in the top 25 are designated as all-region.
Trevon Rainford, who earned all-region last year, was the second Explorer as he crossed 32nd with a time of 33:00.3. Sean Ward came in 19 seconds later as he placed 40th with a mark of 33:19.0.
Dave Hausherr (44th; 33:32.5), Tom Pannulla (80th; 34:16.0), Sean Mallon (89th; 34:27.6) and Nick Crits (112th; 34:52.7) rounded out the Explorer scoring.
Georgetown's Andrew Bumbalough captured the individual crown with a 31:41.6 to lead the Hoyas to their second straight regional title.
On the women's side, Caitlin Storbeck once again led the Explorers. She placed 53rd out of 190 runners with a 6K time of 23:01.
Classmate Samantha Gallagher was right behind as she placed 57th with a time of 23:10. Rookie Meghan McGlinchey was the third Explorer as she finished in 24:16 for 115th place.
The Explorer women had a tough time on the course on Saturday, coming in 17th in the team standings after ranking an Atlantic 10 high 10th in the latest regional poll. Villanova, currently No. 2 nationally, captured the team title. National no. 4 Princeton, No. 7 West Virginia, No. 11 Penn State and No. 12 Georgetown rounded out the top five.
The Explorers continue the post-season at the ECAC/IC4A Championships in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City on Friday, Nov. 20.
