Nov. 5, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - Sophomore cross country runner Tyler Jones has been named La Salle's Student Athlete of the Month for the month of October. Jones has been the lead runner on a team that is currently ranked eighth in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Jones earns the honor after a stellar month of October that saw him named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Team. He finished 13th overall at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Oct. 31 to lead the Explorers to fourth place in the team standings.

Jones has led the Explorers at every race he competed in this season, including all three in October. In addition to his All-Atlantic 10 performance, he led the squad at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University on Oct. 2. Jones ran a 24:13 in the 8K race to finish 26th out of 386 runners in a nationally and regionally ranked field, and helped the Explorers to a ninth place team finish out of 42 teams.

He also led the team at the Penn State Nationals held this year at Lock Haven University on Oct. 16. He clocked a team-best 25:32 in the 8K race amid freezing temperatures, snow, ice and mud on the Lock Haven course.

In September, Jones kicked off his 2009 season with a fourth place individual finish at the Boston University Invitational with a time of 25:12.

Jones came to La Salle last year and proved himself as one of the premier freshmen in the Atlantic 10 in 2008, as he finished as the second rookie at the 2008 Atlantic 10 Championship - only one spot behind teammate Nick Crits. In 2008, he also earned two Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors.

In addition to standing out on the cross country course, Jones is an academic performer as well. The Information Technology major is currently a nominee for Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area. Those teams will be announced in the coming weeks.

Jones returns to the course with the rest of the Explorer squad when they head to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, MD, next Saturday (11/14) for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional meet.