March 27, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Strong finishes in the 5k events highlighted the weekend as the La Salle track team competed in two events to open the spring season.

Only seven (two men, five women) distance runners were chosen to compete in the competitive Stanford Invitational held on the campus of Stanford University.

On the women's side, Meghan McGlinchey had the strongest performance of the three Explorers running in the 5k event, posting a time of 16:42.03. Stephanie Bearish also had a solid time with a mark of 16:56.07. Caitlin Storbeck was the final La Salle runner in the 5k and posted a time of 17:05.29.

All three of the times posted by the female 5k runners were fast enough to clinch an ECAC qualifying mark. 

"Our 5k girls at Stanford were defintely the most impressive perofmances for us this weekend," said head coach Charles Torpey. "Meghan's [McGlinchey] time might even be good enough to qualify for NCAA's down the road. But the fact that they all ran solid times their in their first races of the season is very positive."

Both runners on the men's side at Stanford also competed in the 5k as Nick Crits posted the best time with a mark of 14:39.56. David Hausherr posted a time of 14:42.26.

Samantha Gallagher competed in the 3k Steeplechase and posted a mark of 10:52.57. The final La Salle student-athlete competing at Stanford was Meghan Lutz in the 10k, who posted a mark of 37:51.58.

The members of the track team who did not make the trip out west were still busy over the weekend competing in the Big 5 Invitational held at Franklin Field on the campus of UPenn.

A pair of strong performances on both sides of the 5k highlighted the meet for La Salle.

On the men's side, La Salle had four runners in the top 25. Daniel Day was the top Explorer in the event with an 11th place overall finish and a mark of 15:26.48. Todd Campbell also had a strong race placing 13th overall with a time of 15:33.63.

The women's side was even more impressive, with four La Salle athletes placing in the top 15. Caroline Grant led the way finishing second overall with a time of 18:17.28. Anne Aerias was right behind her, finishing third with a time of 18:19.30.

Dominique Best continued her strong freshman season with a third place finish in the 100m hurdles and fourth in the 400m hurdles.

In the men's 1,500m, David Laratta had a strong race finishing 6th with a mark of 3:57.37.

Coach Torpey and the La Salle track team will be back in action next weekend with another meet at Penn in addition to the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton.