May 30, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Four Saint Joseph's athletes competed in the NCAA East Regional this weekend, hosted by North Carolina A&T. Bobby Staten, Brian Guterl, Will Rowland and Kyle Murray ran in their first Regional meet.

Staten and Guterl competed in Friday's preliminaries, but did not advance. Staten placed third in his heat of the 100-meter dash, running a 10.57. He also competed in the 200 meters, and placed fourth in his heat with a time of 21.43. Brian Guterl finished ninth in his heat of the 1,500 meters, running a 3:57.32.

Will Rowland competed in the 5,000 meter final, finishing 28th in 14:50.51.

Kyle Murray ran the 3,000m Steeplechase final on Saturday evening, finishing 30th with a time of 9:39.72.

Staten set new school records in the 100m and 200m dashes en route to qualifying for Regionals. The redshirt senior ran 10.45 in the 100m to capture the A-10 title. He backed that performance up with a 21.15 showing in the 200m, which was good for second.

Guterl was a stalwart in the middle distance events earning All-East honors at the IC4A Championships with a fourth-place showing an a 1:50.15 in the 800m preliminaries, an NCAA Regional qualifying time. Earlier this season, Guterl ran a time of 3:47.80 at the Larry Ellis Invitational to earn a spot in the East Regionals in the 1,500m.

Long distance threats Murray and Rowland also competed in the Regional meet. Murray ran 9:05.48 at A-10s for his Regional spot in the 3,000m Steeplechase, while Rowland ran 14:10.62 in the 5,000m at IC4As to qualify for the meet in Greensboro. Murray ran in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, while Rowland won the 10,000m A-10 Title in meet-record fashion.