St. Joseph’s 4×800 relay team had many achievements under its belt, but until recently, winning the Atlantic 10 championships was not one, writes Mia Messina for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
On May 5, with a finish of 7 minutes and 29.85 seconds, the team beat second-placed Loyola Chicago in the men’s 4×800 relay and changed that record.
“This has been what we’ve been working for,” said senior Owen Moelter. “It’s our No. 1 goal.”
The team had previously won three silver medals.
“It’s demoralizing, on the one hand,” said senior Gavin Campbell. “On the other, though, you come back and you’re like, ‘Well, we know we’re good enough to be on the podium, but we come up just short.’”
The win means much more to the team than just another medal.
“We got our coach [Chris Tarello] to smile in a picture for the first time,” joked junior Graham Phillips.
Mike Glavin, St. Joe’s director of track credited the relay’s success to Tarello and the athletes.
“What they did is put their heads down for the last three or four years, believe in the program, in particular, believe in the training system that Chris Tarello uses,” said Glavin.
Read more about the relay team in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
