March 27, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - Tyler Jones, Samantha Gallagher and Stephanie Bearish opened the 2010 outdoor season with blazing times at the Stanford Invitational on Friday night as all three qualified for IC4A/ECACs, while Gallagher also set a new school record in the steeplechase. Several Explorers also opened outdoor action at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State on Friday.

Gallagher ran to a second place finish in her 3,000 meter steeplechase section, running a 10:31.05 to qualify for ECACs and break the eight-year-old school record of 10:48.41 set by Solomiya Logan in 2002. Gallagher's time was less than two seconds off the winning time and beat the ECAC standard by about 20 seconds.

Jones clocked a 30:02.48 in the 10,000 meters late Friday night, besting the IC4A standard by a minute. He finished 24th in a race that saw 31 of 33 runners hit the standard.

Bearish also ran a strong race in Palo Alto, finishing fourth in her section of the 5,000 meters. She clocked a 17:04.44 in picking up an ECAC qualification.

Also competing at Stanford was Trevon Rainford, who ran a 3:58.86 in the 1,500 meter race.

A large group of Explorers also ran at the Raleigh Relays, which featured strong squads from all over the East Coast. The Explorers were led by a third place finish by the women in the 4x1500, finishing just behind Georgetown and Virginia. They combined to run a 19:13.93.

Also on the women's side, Courtney McKnight and Lolita Thomas finished in the top half of a strong 400 meter race. Both clocked sub-minute times, with McKnight posting a 59.18 and Thomas a 59.86.

Jalessa Graham and Kyla Jones competed in the 100 meter dash, clocking a 12.62 and 12.87 respectively.

Rashad Little led the Explorer men, posting a 49.47 in the 400 meter dash to finish in the top 50 of 109 runners. Also in the race were Terence McPeak (50.24) and Nick Iuele (51.94).

The Explorers finish up at Stanford and NC State on Saturday, and part of the team will compete at a tri-meet at Villanova.