Dec. 6, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - Rashad Little captured gold in the 300 meter dash to lead the Explorers at the Jack Pyrah Invitational at Haverford College to open the 2009-10 indoor season on Saturday afternoon. Several La Salle track & field athletes had strong performances as well.

Little clocked a 36.10 to lead 51 competitors in the 300 meter dash. Also finishing in the top half of the field were Andrew Maxwell (36.71; 14th) and Jared Davis (37.29; 21st).

Little also won his heat of the 55 meter dash, finishing in 6.71 for ninth place overall out of 38. James Thomas and Jerome Brown rounded out the top three Explorers in the 55m, as Thomas ran a 6.81 for 15th and Brown clocked a 6.84 for 19th.

The men's pole vaulters also put together a strong first meet as three of the top five vaulters were Explorers. Jake Holler led the group with a second place vault of 4.27m (14-00.00), while Mike Jasinski vaulted a 3.96m (12-11.75) for fourth and Seth Gorman hit a height of 3.81m (12-06.00) for fifth place out of 11.

On the women's side, the sprinters opened the season with strong races. Jalessa Graham led with a 10th place overall run out of 36 in the 55 meter dash. She clocked a 7.55. Kyla Jones placed second in her heat and 17th overall with a time of 7.71, while Lolita Thomas just two-hundredths of a second behind in 7.73 for 18th place overall.

Thomas also won her heat of the 300 meter dash, while placing 21st overall out of 38. She ran a 45.06 in the effort.

Carolyn Crawford led the women's field squad by finishing in the top half of the women's long jump event. Crawford jumped a 4.77m in her first collegiate meet for seventh place out of 19 jumpers.

The track & field team will return after the new year when they split between the Metropolitan Coaches Invitational at the New York Armory and the University of Delaware Invitational on January 8.