Nov. 3, 2008

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle freshman Nick Crits, fresh off of a strong performance in the 2008 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championship, was named the conference's Most Outstanding Rookie.

The Wissahickon, Pa., native saved his best finish of the season for the conference championship, as he finished 27th overall and was the third Explorer to cross the finish line. His time of 25:04.9 was best among all Atlantic 10 freshmen at Charlotte's Campus Course.

His performance at A-10's also shattered his prior times this season. Crits' times prior to this weekend were 26:12.20 at Princeton's Old Nassau Run on Sept. 13th, 26:37.0 at William & Mary on Sept. 27th and 27:12.0 at the Penn State Nationals two weeks ago.

The rookie came to 20th and Olney from Wissahickon High School, where he was the 2008 Pennsylvania Outdoor Mile Champion, runner-up in the state indoor mile championship and fifth at the state cross country championship.