Delaurenti aims for West Regional

By Cecile Nguyen

In just their fourth year as an official NCAA track and field program, Santa Clara is hoping to send the first Bronco ever to post-season competition.

As the men's and women's teams prepare to finish their last two months of competition, senior Mike Delaurenti has his eyes set on competing at the NCAA West Regional, which is scheduled to be held at Cal State Northridge at the end of May.

Delaurenti, who finished third in the West Coast Conference cross country championships this past fall, has experienced success in the steeplechase this season.

Delaurenti broke his own school record in the 3,000-meter event last weekend at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 9:17.10 -- just 10 seconds shy of the NCAA automatic regional qualifier. To date, no Santa Clara track athlete has ever qualified for the NCAA regional event.

"I'm really excited," Delaurenti said of the prospect of becoming the first Bronco to be eligible for the regional. "It's a big step forward for the program. It lets people know you can come and run at Santa Clara and have success, even if the program is only in its fourth season."

Delaurenti said he is confident that he can lower his time and hit the automatic qualifying mark.

"There are still lots of races left, and I feel like I'm setting myself up pretty well to hit the qualifier next month," said Delaurenti.

Joining him at the Stanford Invitational was junior Veronica Vazquez, who finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:24, shattering her own school record by 16 seconds.

Vazquez broke the Santa Clara 3,000-meter record of 10:27.12, previously held by Shannon Bell, en route to her 5,000-meter record.

"Just to be invited to Stanford with so many other Division I schools is a real honor," Head Coach Tom Service said. "I could not be more proud of Mike and Veronica; they represented Santa Clara very well."

While Delaurenti and Vazquez were in Palo Alto, the rest of the team was racing at the Chabot Distance Carnival in Hayward, where several Broncos recorded personal best times.

On the men's side, sophomores Alex Harkins and John Laughlin ran personal best times in the 1,500 meter. Harkins finished with a time of 4:01.89, about the equivalent of a 4:19 mile. Laughlin finished the race in a time of 4:06.59.

"The season is going well so far, despite injuries to our top guys in Stephen Koch and Chris Sampson," Delaurenti said.

Sampson is out for the season due to a stress fracture, and Koch is recovering from surgery on his calf for compartment syndrome, Assistant Coach Felipe Montoro said.

"Sampson is the fastest freshman, and it hurts the team that he's out, but he'll get back into form pretty soon," Delaurenti added.

Both have started to run again and are expected be able to compete in next year's cross country season, according to Montoro.

The women's team also dominated the Chabot race, as Santa Clara took the top three spots in the 1,500 meter. Stephanie Wilson finished in first place with 4:47.89, a personal best, followed by Noelle Lopez and Danielle Miller, with times of 4:48.92 and 4:49.04, respectively.

"Stephanie and Danielle ran really well," Montoro said. "Noelle was injured a lot in the past, and it's great to see her finally compete like she knows she's capable of competing. I can only hope her confidence carries over."

Miller said the team is finally getting better after injuries and a rough start.

"We're breaking school records, and everyone who is running is running well," Miller said. "We just need to continue what we've been doing because it's definitely working."

The Broncos will look to continue their recent success when they compete at the Johnny Mathis Invitational this Saturday, held at San Francisco State, but they are not overlooking the remaining four meets of the 2008 season.

"I'm really looking forward to the next month or so," said Montoro. "This is when we've been able to produce some of our best times in the past."

Contact Cecile Nguyen at (408) 551-1918 cnguyen5@scu.edu.