PHILADELPHIA – Upon the conclusion of Saint Joseph's 2018-19 indoor track and field season, five Hawks have etched their names onto SJU's all-time Top-Ten Performers list and one junior standout has moved up in his event since last winter. Senior captain Rory Houston will leave his legacy in the open 800m while 200m sprinters in junior captain David Bryant and freshman Michael Welde and junior 1000m runners Zach Michon and John Walker have all earned spots in their respective open events. Additionally, after a phenomenal season, Michon has moved up on the mile list.
'The unique thing about our sport is that you can see how you compare in the annals of track and field at Saint Joseph's University," said head coach Mike Glavin, now in the midst of his 30th season at the helm. "We've had track and field at some level or another for over 100 years here. So when guys put themselves in the all-time Top-Ten Performers list in an event, they've made history at SJU. And when five guys do it in a single season, well that speaks volumes about the commitment and caliber of these guys as athletes in their sport."
Houston ran a collegiate-best 800m time - indoor and outdoor - of 1:52.49 in the preliminaries of the 2019 IC4A Indoor Track and Field Championships (Boston's Track and Tennis Center) on March 2. After running his first collegiate sub-1:53.00 open 800m in the final indoor opportunity of his collegiate career, Houston will leave Hawk Hill ranked seventh on SJU's Top-Ten Performers list. Between the open 800m and 4x800m relay, Houston recorded six phenomenal times in nine days between the 2019 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships and IC4As; it was his fourth race of that span that earned him a spot on the prestigious list.
Bryant ran the fastest 200m time - indoor and outdoor - of his collegiate career (22.33 PR) at the Villanova Invitational (Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex) on February 2 while Welde ran the fastest 200m of his rookie season (22.34 PR) at the Fastrack National Invitational (Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex) on February 8. The junior/freshman pair ranks eighth and ninth, respectively, on SJU's Top-Ten Performers list.
Michon (2:27.06 PR) and Walker (2:27.17 PR) ran their collegiate-best 1000m times at the Fastrack Last Chance Invitational (Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex) on February 15. Those times rank ninth and 10th, respectively, on SJU's Top-Ten Performers list.
Additionally, Michon moved up in the mile. The junior standout entered his third indoor season with a collegiate-best time of 4:07.78, which sat eighth from last winter. He ran a 4:07.21 in the IC4A preliminaries on March 2 before turning in an improved time of 4:06.14 on March 3; that time shot him from eighth to fourth on the list, knocking down Gabe Wilson (4:06.82 in 1991), Brian Rosetti (4:07.16 in 2003), Karl Savage (4:07.39 in 2001), and Mike DiDio (4:07.51 in 2006). The school record in the mile is 4:03.74, set by Greg Bloom in 1983, followed by Jim Norris' 4:04.10 (1985) and Logan Mohn's 4:06.11 (2013).
Michon now owns spots in three events, sitting fourth in the mile, ninth in the 1000m, and ninth in the 3000m (8:16.62 in 2018). He is the only Hawk in program history to currently hold a top-ten spot in all three of those events.
Houston, Bryant, Welde, Michon, Walker and the Hawks open the 2019 outdoor track and field season at the Rider 5-Way Meet in Lawrenceville, N.J. on Saturday, March 30.
