April 24, 2008

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-It could be a historic weekend for the outdoor track team, who will be sending four of their top runners to compete in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Cal Berkeley. Senior Michael Delaurenti is in reach of qualifying for the NCAA West Regional meet this year, the first time ever in the history of the Santa Clara outdoor track program.

Delaurenti is having the best season of his career at Santa Clara, breaking his own records in the men's steeplechase all season long, including a big win at the Cal/Nevada Championships March 29th. Last weekend at the Woody Wilson Invitational in Davis, Delaurenti posted a new record-breaking time of 9:16.75. Says head coach Tom Service, "Mike is very capable of qualifying this year. This invitational will be his first of two attempts at qualifying and we feel that it is definitely a possibility."

However Delaurenti won't be the only Bronco at Berkeley this weekend, with sophomores John Laughlin and Alex Harkins and freshman Robert Reid running for Santa Clara as well. Harkins will be competing in the steeplechase and has been posting several new personal records this season, most recently his fourth place finish time of 9:27.93 at the Woody Wilson Invitational.

Reid and Laughlin will be competing in separate events of their own. Reid, who has performed very consistently in his first season at Santa Clara, will be competing in the 1500 M and 800 M events. Laughlin, who just last week took first in the 1500 M, will compete in the same event this weekend.

The rest of the team will root for their teammates back home at Santa Clara with a bye week. The action for the rest of the team will resume next weekend on May 2nd at West Valley College, where Santa Clara will be hosting a dual meet with San Francisco State.