La Salle University - Explorer Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Women ' s Track Gretchen Heebner competes in the 4 x 400. Injuries Hamper Women Runners By Judy Ring Kathy Rivera. Gretchen Heebner and Judy Ring run a sprint during practice. Indoor track follows quickly after the cross country season, and sprinters couldn ' t be happier to see the new events. Along with the new season, however, come other changes as well: a much busier schedule with at least one meet per weekend; indoor prac- tices, this year on the newly re-sur- faced track in Hayman Hall; and a whole new wave of injuries. La Salle ' s Women ' s Track Team has, unfortunately, suffered more than its share of injuries. Top runners Drea Schwind, Heather Shields, and Elissa Broderick spent most of the season on the sidelines with stress fractures. Many runners, such as Verlinda Taurine raced with minor but nonetheless ham- pering injuries. These setbacks caused a marked difference in the overall quality of the team ' s record. Among the notable individual perfor- mances, however, were sophomore Judy Ring ' s success in the sixty-yard hurdles, and freshman Maureen Hig- gins ' sub-sixty quarter miles. The outdoor season will hopefully mean recovery from the injuries that have plagued the team thus far, and a chance at some solid team outings. Standing: Bro. Jerome Benway (Asst. Coach), Andrea Schwind, Verlinda Taurino, Gretchen Heebner, Bernadette Mulligan, Maureen Higgins. Beth Leneweaver. Heather Shields. Jim Ga- vaghan (Coach). Kneeling: Elissa Broderick. Judy Ring, Betsy Baker. Patty Oehlbeck. Not pictured: Robin Kieff, Kelly Mullen. Mike Murphy (Asst. Coach).

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fTlen ' s Track lew Track House is Welcomed By Ed Skorpinski The 1986-87 season was a very eventful one for the Men ' s Track team, both on and off of the track. Led by Coach Jim Gavaghan and Co-Cap- tains Tim Collins and Jim Gulick, the Ex- plorers maintained a busy indoor and outdoor schedule that included such prestigious meets as the Millrose Games, the Princeton Relays, the CTC Championships, the Penn Relays, and the IC4A Championships. Because of limitations imposed by the NCAA committee on the number of athletic scholarships a school may distribute, La Salle is not able to partici- pate in the full range of track and field events. Rather, the Explorers concen- trate their efforts on the middle dis- tance events which better accommo- date cross country runners, namely the two-mile relay, the distance medley, the sprint medley, and the mile relay. In the past, La Salle was always able to qualify everyone on the team for the IC4A Championships, generally considered to be the ultimate goal for small colleges. More recently, howev- er, qualifying runners for the IC4A has not been so automatic. Recruiting bat- tles have kept a lot of local talent from coming to La Salle, and it was the goal this year to rebuild the strong nucleus that had been lost. One of the ways which the men ' s team attempted to do this was to es- tablish a Track House on campus where track team members could en- joy nearly year-round housing free from dorm closings during periods when school was not in session. Wister House, which formerly housed the Special Ac- tivities and Travel Office, was acquired from the Resident Life Office for this purpose. The appointment of Bob Mul- len as the school ' s new athletic director also had important implications for t he Explorers. A former track participant himself, Mullen is a strong supporter of the track program at La Salle. Finally, the most important event of the year was the announcement of the construction of a new $300,000 track in McCarthy Stadium to replace the bad- ly-worn cinder track. Helping in the de- cision was an agreement by the re- cently-formed track alumni association to contribute a portion of the building costs. Consisting of several Olympic participants, the alumni association has been helping to support the track team both vocally and financially since spring 1985. When completed, the eight-lane tartan surface is hoped to provide a state-of-the-art facility that will allow track meets to be held on campus, as well as lure more talented recruits to La Salle. Dave Casale readies to accept the baton. Standing: Bill Donovan, Jason Lagana, Bill Selgrath. Joe McGirr, Paul Sauvageau, Joe Blanc, Tim Collins (Co-Captain), Dan Snowden, Jim Gavaghan (Coach). Kneeling: John Schwab, David Casale, Jim Gulick (Co-Captain), Matt Costello, Dave Gerhart, Scott Kissell. Not pictured: Anthony Carr, Terence Gallagher. Chris John, John Kovatch. Vince Taglieri, Kevin Youse, Mike Garvey, Mike Murphy (Asst. Coach), Bro. Jerome Benway (Asst. Coach).

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Golf Sophomore Joe Quigley practices posing for future sportswear endorsements. Drew Friel of the Class of 1986 puts for par. Watch The Birdie By Ed Skorpinski Although it is perhaps the most little known team on campus, the golf team at La Salle has certainly caught some attention around the rest of the league. Coached by Father Robert Breen, the team has already made a strong showing in three fall matches, with a much longer spring schedule to follow. In tournaments at Georgetown and Bucknell, they placed fifth and fourth respectively against strong fields in both events. In addition, at Bucknell, the team shot an amazing average round of 78. The third tournament, at Yale, was probably the toughest of the three, yet La Salle managed to place seventh out of twenty against several Ivy League powerhouses. Obviously, the golf team does not play on the La Salle campus; their home course is the Philmont Country Club, in Huntingdon Valley. Every spring break, they venture to warmer weath- er in Florida to begin spring practice and to participate in the Sunshine Invi- tational Tournament. Until May, then. La Salle ' s linksters will play matches at Philmont and at other colleges in the eastern Pennsylvania area such as Vil- lanova, St. Joseph ' s, West Chester, and Ursinus. Last spring was somewhat disap- pointing for the golf team, despite a third place showing in the MAAC Championships at the Pelham Manor Country Club in New York. With many returning members, it is likely that La Salle will give Army and Holy Cross a tough battle for the title this year. They are led by Tomas Kelliher, a sophomore import from Ireland who placed elev- enth overall in the MAAC Champion- ships and captured the Irish (American) Open at Frankford-Torresdale in the off season. Other key team members are senior Joe Hughes, juniors Jim Boyle and Joe Kelly, and sophomores Joe Quigley and Jim Green. Great things are also expected from new golfers Tom Co- vello, a transfer from the University of Maryland, and freshman Fran Malley and Glenn Perri. Most people probably picture golf as simply a leisure sport played by doctors on their days off. As Kelliher remarks, however, At La Salle, golf is just not a social event — because we are a var- sity sport, we are expected to per- form. This sense of seriousness is evi- denced by daily practices and team discussions with Coach Breen after- wards to discuss course strategies. As Kelliher adds, though, the team is out there because they like the sport and have a lot of fun at it. Hopefully, the right combination of fun and concen- tration will bring the golf team even more success in the future. Roster: Tom Covello, Jim Boyle, Jim Green, Joe Hughes, Tomas Kelliher, Joseph Kelly, Joe Quig- ley, Fran Malley, Glenn Perri, Father Robert Breen (Coach).