LaSalle College bested a loaded field, and continues to make its claim for Pennsylvania's No. 1 team spot with a major victory at the Manhattan College Invitational on Saturday. LaSalle became the first Pennsylvania team in six years to win the annual meet at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City.
The Explorers put three boys in the top 25 and five in the top 40 of the Easterns field and scored 104 points to claim an eight-point win over top-ranked New York squad Corning (112 points). Vermont power U-32 was third, followed by Rhode Island's Bishop Hendricken (fourth) and La Salle Academy (fifth).
LaSalle College becomes the first PA team to win Easterns at Manhattan since Downingtown West in 2015. That Downingtown West team went on to win the PIAA Class AAA state title and the NXN-Northeast Regional that year.
Drew Brill paced LaSalle with an 11th place finish in a time of 12:49 for the 2.5 mile course. Zachary Brill was 19th in 12:59, and Ryan McGinley took 25th in 13.12. Will Rau was 31st in 13:18 and Josh Lloyd (38th in 13:22) rounded out the top five for LaSalle. The Explorers had a 1-5 gap of just 32 seconds and Lloyd was the best No. 5 runner in the field by five seconds.
Cole Casadei was 48th and Francis Dougherty was 59th to provide some good depth for the LaSalle varsity squad.
It's yet another strong performance for LaSalle, which won at the Briarwood Invitational and placed third -- just off the win -- at the Carlisle Invitational so far this fall. Next up will be the Philadelphia Catholic League Championships in two weeks time, as the Explorers prepare for the postseason.
It wasn't just the varsity boys making it a big day for LaSalle at Manhattan. The Explorers claimed team titles in the JV C race (scoring the minimum 15 points), the Sophomore C race, and the Frosh A race. Matt Dyer won the JV C race in 14:04. Not only is the present going well for LaSalle, but the future looks very bright for this program.
Watch highlights from the Boys Eastern States race above and check out an interview with the LaSalle College boys after the race below.