SJU Athletics Photos

PHILADELPHIA (1/11/04) -- Despite what his surname may indicate, sophomore harrier Andre Laboy was the man this fall. The Danbury, Conn. native blazed a path, usually from the front of the pack, over cross country courses all across the East Coast to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships in Waterloo, Iowa. After winning the Atlantic 10 Championship and placing fourth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional, Laboy competed with the nation's best and finished 75th overall in the field of 254 runners.

While Laboy was certainly the big story on Hawk Hill, a number of other runners helped the Hawks to a second-place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championships and 12th at the Regional Championships. Fellow sophomore Mike DiDio, who won the Fordham Invitational in early September, was a contender for the A-10 Individual title before a foot injury sidelined him late in the season. He tried to push through the pain at A-10s, but was forced to withdraw from the race after the first lap.

Freshman Teddy Meyers was a pleasant surprise, finishing second for SJU at A-10s and third among league rookies. Sophomore David Masse and junior Collin Martin continued to provide top times for Saint Joseph's and sophomore Joe Mohn battled health problems to round out the top five.

St. Joe's opened the season with its younger runners taking part in the Ursinus Invitational in late August. Meyers, freshman Ryan Bennett, and Masse finished three-four-five for the Hawks, which won the event over La Salle and Haverford. Meyers won A-10 Rookie of the Week honors for his performance.

Two weeks later, DiDio won the Fordham Invitational and edged Laboy and Martin, who finished second and third, to help SJU capture the team title over city rival Pennsylvania. With Meyers (sixth) and Masse (11th), Saint Joseph's took five of the first 11 spots.

In early October, Saint Joseph's took on some of the nation's best teams at the prestigious Notre Dame Invitational. The Hawks placed 11th out of 23 teams and Laboy began to hit his stride with a seventh place finish in a field of 188. The sophomore earned his first A-10 Runner of the Week honor.

Laboy maintained his stature as one of the region's best runners with a second place finish at the Penn State National Invitational and helped SJU to a sixth place finish. He was just seven seconds off the pace of PSU's Dan Mazzocco, who would go on to win the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional race.

Another two weeks later, it was back home at Fairmont Park's Belmont Plateau for the Atlantic 10 Championships. Laboy finished in 24:46.7, the fastest time in six A-10 Championships at Belmont, and had the fourth largest margin of victory in conference history. DiDio was among the leaders but trying to race on a broken metatarsel proved to be too much and gutsy performances from Meyers, Masse and Martin were enough to finish second behind La Salle, who won its third straight league title.

Laboy went on to strong performances at the NCAA Regional and National meets. Along with a slew of talented underclassman, Laboy and the Hawks seem poised to dominate the Atlantic 10 for years to come.