As summer ramps up and La Salle's student-athletes are taking time away from the court, field, pitch or pool, we have an opportunity to reflect on an entire school year's worth of triumphs. From Atlantic 10 Tournament appearances to Academic All-Americans and success on the local and regional level, La Salle student-athletes have a lot from the 2010-11 year to be proud of.

To that end, those of us at GoExplorers.com present a summer web series of the Top 11 moments or accomplishments of the past school year. Every few days, a new "top moment" will be released. At the conclusion of the release of all 11, La Salle fans will have the opportunity to vote on which moment or accomplishment they think was the top one of 2010-11.

With the preseason hype surrounding the men's cross country team being picked to finish atop the Atlantic 10, the women's team's success in the conference championship came up quietly. The Explorers - picked to finish fourth in the conference - bettered that prediction to capture the A-10 silver medal and upend the defending champion, Dayton.

Although the course (Schenley Park in Pittsburgh) was unfamiliar territory, the competition was not. The Explorers, ranked fifth in the region at the time, had to contend with other regionally ranked teams in the Atlantic 10.

"We knew that [the race] would go out quick so we had to be smart about it and just get out and see how things would go," Stephanie Bearish said. "Once things settled in, we had to just start picking up people in the race and just keep passing girls."

And passing other runners is what they did as all five scoring Explorers finished in the top 20. Bearish was the top finishing Explorer, capturing fifth place individually and her first cross country all-conference distinction, and Caitlin Storbeck earned her second all-conference honor with a 10th place finish. Wendy Hutchinson finished 16th, Meghan Lutz 17th and Samantha Gallagher rounded out the top 20.

Of course, no matter how high they finished, there is a feeling among the Explorers that they are capable of more.

"I think that if you ask any runner,  they would say that they should have done this here or something there," Storbeck said. "I know at the end of my race, I remember a Saint Louis girl passed me. Coach Torpey always said that kicking at the end of a race is an attitude and I was mad at myself for not outkicking her."

"Overall I think that we performed very well as a group," Storbeck added. "We all hung tough out there."

The 2010 championship finish was an exciting one for this particular group of student-athletes, with all five of those top 20 runners having been together since they were freshmen in 2008. This group was together in an 11th place finish as freshmen, then worked to jump up to fifth as sophomores before their silver medal finish as juniors. Suffice it to say, expectations are high for their senior season.

"I would have to say that it was a huge step for all of us," Bearish said. "It just showed how much we have grown over the years and it was a step closer to where we want to be for this next year."

"Each year we have improved our placement in the A10 meet and this year I know we can do it," Storbeck said. "The improvement each year has proved to each and every one of us that we can win this conference title."