April 25, 2008

BERKELEY, Calif. - It was a historic day for the Santa Clara outdoor track program, with senior Michael Delaurenti becoming the first Bronco runner to qualify for the NCAA West Regionals in school history with his win in the men's steeplechase at the Brutus Invitational at Cal Berkeley.

Delaurenti just barely made the cutoff time of 9:07 with a finishing time of 9:06.84. However, that small difference in time was just enough to propel him into Santa Clara track history, which is in its fourth year of being recognized as a NCAA sport at Santa Clara.

Delaurenti's time was also a new personal all-time record for him in the steeplechase as well, breaking his previous record of 9:16.7 that was clocked in last week at the Woody Wilson Invitational.

Throughout his four years at Santa Clara, Delaurenti has been an anchor for the team with the long distance events. Head coach Tom Service was thrilled about the win, stating "We are just so proud of Mike. This is his fourth and final year at Santa Clara, and he's worked so hard all these years for this; it's just amazing to see this happening for him. We're absolutely ecstatic right now."