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Head west, young men and woman

4 La Salle media members going to LA for Sweet 16, thanks to donations of family, friends and fans.

La Salle student media members could either watch the Explorers' Sweet 16 game at home, or put in the effort and get themselves to Los Angeles. Effort won out. (Courtesy of La Salle University)
La Salle student media members could either watch the Explorers' Sweet 16 game at home, or put in the effort and get themselves to Los Angeles. Effort won out. (Courtesy of La Salle University)Read more

WHEN THE buzzer sounded Sunday night in Kansas City, four La Salle media members had a choice to make. They could either watch the Explorers' Sweet 16 game at home, or put in the effort and get themselves to Los Angeles.

Effort won out.

The group decided to take matters into its own hands after La Salle's 76-74 win in the Round of 32 against Ole Miss.

"There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to Los Angeles," La Salle senior Dave Grzybowski said. "We just knew we couldn't do it alone. We needed help."

Following the advice of Philadelphia blogger Kyle Scott, the group set up a page on gofundme.com that allowed people to make donations to its cause online.

"We posted it late at night, not thinking much of it," senior Mike McCoy said. "As soon as a CSN article came out in the morning, the page blew up."

CSN chronicled the group's journey from Philadelphia to Dayton, to Kansas City and back to Philadelphia in a story that came out early Monday morning.

"We were sitting in the car, and we came across the article," junior Rachel Finkbeiner said. "We were all so excited, we started tweeting it and Facebooking it. Then the cash came pouring in."

Within 14 hours of the fund-raising page being published, the group had managed to raise more than its goal of $5,000, all while being in the car driving back to Philadelphia.

At first, the donations came from expected sources: family, friends and La Salle alumni pooled together to raise a chunk of money for the group to get to LA.

The working media also took part in helping the young journalists. The Daily News'' Frank Seravalli, Mike Sielski, of the Wall Street Journal, CSN's Amy Fadool, 94-WIP's Spike Eskin and KYW Newsradio's Matt Leon all donated to the trip out west.

The Phillies even got involved on Monday afternoon. Tom McCarthy informed the group that they would be receiving a $1,000 donation on behalf of the Phillies Broadcasters Association.

"It was one thing after another," Grzybowski said. "Getting a call from the Phillies was just icing on the cake. It was amazing to see a prominent Philadelphia sports team step up to make our trip a little 'Sweeter.' "

In just about 24 hours, the group managed to raise more than $9,000 for their trip to Los Angeles.

"This is more than we ever could have dreamed of," McCoy said. "To think that people in the Philadelphia area appreciate the work that we did in Dayton and Kansas City is humbling."

The La Salle media crew heads to the West Coast on Wednesday. La Salle takes on Wichita State on Thursday at 10:17 p.m.

Andrew Albert is on the staff of the Collegian, La Salle's school paper.
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