Ramblers Complete Monster 2nd Day at the Meyo Invitational

	Declan Murray now ranks fourth in the NCAA in the 800m race.

Murray, McLachlan place themselves on national leaderboards

Feb. 2, 2013

Meyo Invite Full Results

South Bend, Ind. - Declan Murray and James McLachlan both placed themselves on national leaderboards in multiple events today as the Loyola University track & field squads completed competition at the Meyo Invitational on the campus of Notre Dame.

"This is the best performance in the history of the Loyola track & field program," stated Head Coach Randy Hasenbank. "We put up seven new school records and twenty new top-ten marks. I think the team is really beginning to understand the potential we have. Our men's 4x400m team was very impressive in a race to the wire with Ohio State. We also beat Big 10 powers Iowa and Michigan. James and Delcan were fantastic in their specialties and the women really finished strong as well."

Murray got his day off to a great start in the men's 800m race, posting a time of 1:48.04 that earned him 2nd-place overall. He finished just 0.3 seconds behind Brandon McBride of Mississippi State. The time was a personal best for Murray in the event and it also shaves 0.42 seconds off of the school record he previously held. Murray is now in 4th-place nationally in the event after this afternoon. The senior from Strongsville, Ohio wasn't done yet though. Murray ran third on the 4x400m team, along with Mike Wetzel, Kevin Glastetter and Bay Abbott, as the quartet posted a school record setting time of 3:10.63, finishing in second place. The time puts them in 11th-place nationally.

In the field for the men's side, junior James McLachlan crushed his own school record in the triple jump. The Wymondham, England native posted a top mark of 51-01.50 (15.58 meters), breaking his previously established record by nearly two feet. McLachlan now finds himself in the top-20 nationally in the triple jump.

On the women's side, a pair of freshman turned some heads in the 200m dash. Breanna Walker and Anietra Butler turned in respective times of 24.95 seconds and 25.20 seconds. Walker claims second on the all-time Loyola board in the event, while Butler is close behind in sixth.

They weren't the only freshman catapulting up the school record boards this afternoon though. Amber Davis, like her counterpart Murray on the men's side, shattered the school record in the 800m race with a time of 2:09.96. Davis, out of Shaker Heights, Ohio, becomes the first Rambler in program history to turn in a time of under 2:10 in the 800m race.

"To be ranked this high on the national list in so many events is unprecedented for our program," continued Hasenbank. "We have a lot of fire power but we need to keep this momentum going and get ready for another big weekend."

The Loyola track & field teams will be back in action next weekend with squads competing in multiple events. The Ramblers will participate in the Grand Valley State Big Meet in Allendale, Mich., the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. and the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa on February 8-9.

Gina Valgoi in the women's 5000m

Watch more video of 2013 Notre Dame Meyo Invitational on flotrack.org

Declan Murray in the men's 800m

Watch more video of 2013 Notre Dame Meyo Invitational on flotrack.org

Mike Wetzel, Kevin Glastetter, Declan Murray and Bay Abbott in the men's 4x400m

Watch more video of 2013 Notre Dame Meyo Invitational on flotrack.org