April 24, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle track team wrapped up the 2010 Penn Relays in style on Saturday afternoon as both 4x800 relay squads posted fast times that easily qualified for postseason meets.

The men's relay competed in the prestigious Championship of America race, clocking a 7:33.34 in a race that saw every single squad come in well under the standard. The Explorers raced among the nation's elite, and all 13 squads in the race finished within 18 seconds of each other. Dave Laratta ran a 1:52.90 split to lead off, followed by Nick Crits with a 1:53.62 and Trevon Rainford with a 1:54.39. Terence McPeak anchored the relay with a 1:52.44 split. The squad finished less than four seconds off of the next best time, a 7:29.68 posted by the Arkansas Razorback team. Virginia won with a 7:15.38, edging out second place Oregon by .17 second.

The women's 4x800 clocked a 9:01.80, coming in 15 seconds under the ECAC standard. The squad of Kellilyn Fierras, Wendy Hutchinson, Caitlin Storbeck and Samantha Gallagher (split times unavailable) placed sixth out of 25 squads in a race that featured 18 ECAC times. Harvard won the College Championship race with an 8:46.98.

The Explorers wrapped up their final weekend of the regular season as they head to the University of Massachusetts for the Atlantic 10 Championships next Saturday and Sunday (May 1-2).