Over the last decade, La Salle Academy has endured quite a bit of success in the 3,200-meter run at the Glenn B. Loucks Games, particularly between 2014-16 from its storied alumni Jack Salisbury, Matt Bouthillette and DJ Principe
Marshall Vernon joined the rich history on Friday at the 56th annual meet, held in White Plains, N.Y. The Rams’ talented sophomore was up front with the leaders during the first half of the race and held on to finish fifth overall with a stellar time and PR of 9 minutes, 1.62 seconds. His effort was the fastest among underclassmen in the race and the fastest by a LSA sophomore at Loucks. Principe held the previous best of 9:15.87 from 2014.
(Above Photo by Sterling Vernon @RhodeAndTrack Sports Photography)
The La Salle standout ran even splits, hitting his first 1,600m, in 4:30.13. He passed through 3K in a PR of 8:30.18. Vernon’s performance comes a week after placing eighth overall at the BSR Elite Scholastic Mile with a six-second best of 4:10.64.
“Marshall ran great,” said La Salle distance coach Bill Myers. “He was a little short of his goal (8:55) but it’s a huge PR for him. “Back-to-back PRs, and now it’s time to prepare for States and Nationals”
In the girls’ 800m, Chariho’s Erin vonHousen and Mount St. Charles’ Emmy Belvin produced a pair of outdoor PRs. VonHousen placed 14th overall in 2:15.33, while Belvin was timed in 2:17.13. good for 21st among the 65 finishers.
On Thursday, Westerly’s quartet of Christian Dejour, Marcus Uben, Noah Roberts and Robbie Wade finished second overall in the sprint medley relay with a time of 3:35.14. The Bulldogs were first in their heat and were well under the qualifying standard of 3:40.0 for the New Balance Nationals. With their 200m legs, Dejour and Uben were a combined 47.67 after 400m. Roberts’ split 51.35 for his 400m leg and Wade anchored with a 1:56.39 for the 800m.
