Feb. 7, 2010
PHILADELPHIA - Four Explorers hit postseason championship qualifying times at Yale's Geigengack Invitational, while most of the team competed at the Haverford Quad Meet. Dave Laratta, Dave Hausherr, Samantha Gallagher and Stephanie Bearish ran IC4A and ECAC times, respectively.
Laratta qualified in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:53.98, beating the standard of 1:54.90 by nearly a second. He placed eighth in the field of 46 runners, competition which featured 11 qualifiers.
Hausherr completed a thrilling race, outlasting Joe Sclafani of Saint Joseph's by just seven-hundredths of a second, to finish first out of 12 runners. He clocked a 14:45.81 to Sclafani's 14:45.89 and qualified for the IC4A's as well. Sean Ward also posted a strong time of 14:47.51, barely missing IC4A's by .11 second and placing third.
Also competing at Yale was Wayne Bartholomew, who clocked a 1:06.65 in the 500 meter dash to finish 16th out of 48. Andrew Wagoner and Kasey Gellar also made the trip to run the 3K. Wagoner posted an 8:42.00 while Gellar clocked 9:06.35.
Gallagher led the Explorer women with a 4:56.88 mark in the mile at Yale. Her time qualified her for ECAC's and was the third-best time in the 45-runner race. Bearish followed up with a 4:57.46 in the mile to finish fifth overall and qualify as well, and was the top freshman runner in the race.
Wendy Hutchinson also posted a strong race at Yale, clocking a 2:16.52 in the 800 meters to finish fifth out of 38.
The team also competed at Haverford on Sunday, after the meet was postponed from Saturday due to the winter storm.
Colleen Boland and Courtney McKnight picked up first place finishes to lead the Explorer women. Boland crossed the finish line first out of 14 in the 3K, clocking a 10:39.76. Alyssa Mullen (10:59.56), Kathleen Boland (11:02.13) and Nicole Schiavone (11:02.42) also went 4-5-6 in the 3K.
McKnight earned her gold in the 400 meter dash. She was the only runner out of 16 competing who turned in a sub-minute time as she finished in 59.30. Katherine Rodgers (1:05.13; 8th) and Nikki Ortiz (1:07.26; 10th) also finished in the top 10 in the race.
Jalessa Graham ran two events, posting a 7.48 in the 55 meter dash for fourth place out of 23 runners and a 26.49 in the 200 meters for second place out of 24. Lolita Thomas and Kyla Jones also ran top 10 times in the 200 with a 26.93 and 27.30, respectively.
Maureen Benner and Elizabeth Walker finished in the top half of the 800 meter run. Benner earned third place with a time of 2:23.23 and Walker came in ninth with a 2:28.33.
The 4x400 squad led the Explorer men, as they topped Temple by .31 second to win the race. They clocked a 3:32.15.
The Explorer sprinters put four runners in the top 10 of the 55 meter dash, led by Rashad Little's 6.71 for fifth out of 24. Jerome Brown (6.81; 7th), James Thomas (6.82; 8th) and Andrew Maxwell (6.84; 10th) rounded out the top 10.
Rob Ricketts and Mike DeStefano led the distance runners as Ricketts finished second in the 3K with a 9:02.34 and DeStefano fourth with a 9:05.92.
The Explorers return to action next weekend for their final weekend before the Atlantic 10 Championships. The squad will split time between Boston University's Valentine Invitational and the Rider/Lafayette Games at the Armory in New York City.
