March 28, 2010
PHILADELPHIA - Both the men's and women's 4x800 meter relay squads hit qualifying times on Saturday as the Explorers wrapped up competition at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State. A contingent of Explorers also competed in a tri-meet against Villanova and Temple, held at Villanova Stadium.
The men's 4x800 finished third out of 23 competing teams, coming in just after the HPC Elite club team and Virginia. Terence McPeak, Wayne Bartholomew, Dave Laratta and Nick Crits combined for an IC4A time of 7:35.24 in a fast race that saw seven squads hit the qualifying time of 7:43.00. The Explorers also edged out North Carolina by 1.7 seconds in the process to earn third.
The women's 4x800 squad also hit the ECAC qualifying time as Maureen Benner, Wendy Hutchinson, Caitlin Storbeck and Kellilyn Fierras combined for a 9:06.36, coming in under the standard of 9:16.24. The Explorer placed fifth out of 22 in the race, coming in just after Georgetown, Virginia, North Carolina and Wake Forest.
A handful of 1,500 meter runners also competed on Saturday in Raleigh. Nick Crits led the men with an 11th place finish and time of 3:56.78 in Section I. He was joined in that section by Mike Bowden, who ran a 4:04.70. Kasey Gellar, Paul Reilly and Colin Barrett ran in Section II, led by Gellar's eighth place finish out of 81 by running a 4:02.73. Reilly clocked a 4:07.26 for 30th and Barrett was right behind in 32nd with a 4:07.26.
On the women's side, Elizabeth Walker posted the best 1,500 meter time of the four Explorers competing. Walker clocked a 4:49.97 in Section II while placing 22nd out of 91. Colleen Boland was the second Explorer, posting a 4:52.04 in Section I. Rounding out the Explorers were Kathleen Boland (Section II; 4:58.18) and Caroline Grant (Section II; 5:04.89).
A group of Explorers also competed at Villanova on Saturday, led by Sean McClory's fourth place finish in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:59.25. The group included a dozen runners in the 1,500 meters. The women were led by Pamela Alva's 5:01.67 while Matt Finn led the men with a 4:06.07.
The Explorers return to action on Friday (4/2) and Saturday (4/3) when they compete at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton and the Penn Invitational at Franklin Field.
