April 26, 2013 – La Salle College High School’s Distance Medley Relay team of Andrew Stone ’13, Levi Hardy ’14, Jack Magee ’13, and Tom Coyle ’13 won the Penn Relays Championship of America on Friday, April 26, 2013 at historic Franklin Field. In the greatest relay race in La Salle’s history, the foursome ran the fastest winning time at Penn Relays since 2005, the second fastest time in America US this year, and what is believed to be the second fastest Distance Medley Relay (DMR) time by any Pennsylvania high school ever.
The race began in excellent fashion with senior Andrew Stone leading off a distance relay for the fourth year in a row. Andrew followed the blistering early pace through a 58 second opening 400. He positioned himself perfectly and followed the leaders through the 800m in 2:01. On his final lap Andrew gamely moved up and closed well to hand the baton to junior Levi Hardy in 4th position, having run a personal best for the 1200m leg of 3:04.7.
Levi then ran a personal best himself tuning in a great 50.5 split for his 400m leg to keep the Explorers in the 4th position and in contact with the early leaders, Northport (NY), Christian Brothers Academy (NJ), and Cardinal O’Hara. Levi handed off to senior Jack Magee for the 800m leg. Jack ran a smart and savvy, carefully biding his time. By the time Jack reached 400m he had closed the gap on the lead pack of three and ran hard over his final lap to close out a clutch 1:55.8 leg and give the baton to senior anchor Tom Coyle in great position.
Tom patiently worked to close the gap on the lead pack and by the time he reached about 500m into his leg (opening 400 of 62 seconds) he had caught the anchors from Northport, CBA, and O’Hara. Tom wisely sat behind those three through an 800m split of 2:09, and then a 1200m split of 3:12. As the pack approached the bell lap the anchor from Northport made a bid for the lead and began to push the pace. Tom was the first to respond and followed right behind him. The pace accelerated down the back stretch, but Tom remained relaxed and positioned himself outside lane one, in order to make one final move. As Tom followed the Northport anchor into the final turn he unleashed his kick and moved into first as just 120m remained. As the crowd rose to its feet, Tom drove hard all the way to the line and closed out his final 400m in 61 seconds to cap a 4:13.9 1600m split which finished a 10:04.93 team time and captured the incredibly prestigious Championship of America title!
Not only is this the first Championship of America (COA) title in La Salle’s history, but it is also the first COA title by any Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) boys program at the Penn Relays in the long and storied history.