PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle track and field program opens competition at the historic Penn Relays at Franklin Field on Thursday afternoon.
The squad kicks off at 1 p.m. with the running of the women's 4x100 relay heats. Things heat up tonight with the 5K and 10K events and Saturday is the big relay day with the men's and women's 4x800 looking to make a splash in their first competition of the 2012 outdoor season. The women's DMR runs today at 5:20 p.m. and the men's DMR on Friday at 4 p.m.
A full schedule is linked above.
Six runners will compete in the individual events, including
Dave Hausherr,
Alfredo Santana and
Joe Beveridge on the men's side, along with
Meghan McGlinchey,
Meghan Lutz and
Samantha Gallagher on the women's side.
Hausherr will run in the College Men's 5K Championship tonight at 9:20 p.m. This will be the first 5K of the season for Hausherr, who currently ranks third in the Atlantic 10 in the 10K event with a 29:56.87 at Bucknell two weeks ago. His collegiate best outdoor 5K is a 14:29.83 at last year's Larry Ellis Invitational.
Santana and Beveridge will kick off at 10 p.m. in the Olympic Development 5K. Both will also be running the 5K event for the first time this season. Santana ranks second in the Atlantic 10 in the 10K with a career-best 29:52.10 at the Stanford Invitational. His collegiate best 5K is a 14:42.88 at last year's Larry Ellis Invitational. Beveridge ran a 10K two weeks ago at Bucknell, clocking a 31:04.47 for the 10th-best time in the league. His outdoor collegiate best 5K was also at last year's Larry Ellis Invite, where he ran 14:47.47.
Thursday night (8:40 p.m.) marks the first 5K of the outdoor season for McGlinchey, who won the Atlantic 10 indoor 5K title back in February. She is currently the A-10 leader in the 10K, with a personal best 33:46.04. Her collegiate best 5K is a 16:27.76 at last year's Larry Ellis.
Lutz kicks off her first 10K of the season tonight at 10:15 p.m. Her personal best 10K came two years ago at the Penn Relays, where she ran a 35:40.87. She has run the 5K this season and currently holds the 11th-best time in the A-10 with a 17:24.76.
Also running is Gallagher, whose 3K steeplechase event is set for 8 p.m. tonight. She ran a season-best steeple at the Larry Ellis Invite less than a week ago, clocking an 11:02.44. Her collegiate best is a 10:26.17, set at the ECAC Championship two years ago.
The Penn Relays will be the final tune-up for the squad, as the Explorers head to Massachusetts next weekend for the 2012 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Championships.
