women's track News - August, 2009 Archive

Alyssa Pirinelli was named Liberty League Outdoor Field Performer of the Year for the fourth consecutive season and the fifth time in her career to conclude the 2008-09 outdoor track season.

May 23:St. Lawrence University junior Alyssa Pirinelli earned All-America status for the seventh time in her career Saturday after finishing in second place in the women's shot put at the NCAA Division III championship meet.

May 9: Saturday's soggy Saint Twilight Qualifier at the Merrick-Pinkard Track and Field Complex wasn't about winning, it was all about performance.

Athletes from St. Lawrence were joined by competitors from five other New York State collegiate teams plus athletes from the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Lions Track Club with the U.S. athletes looking to meet qualifying marks or improve on existing qualifications for the upcoming ECAC and NCAA Championships.

While the weather was far from ideal for the meet, several performances improved seedings for Saint athletes including an improved SLU record in the hammer and a record in the discus by junior All America Alyssa Pirinelli.

Pirinelli threw 52.19 meters (171-03), missing NCAA automatic qualification by just .41 of a meter, but improving her own SLU record and moving up to sixth nationally depending upon other results nationally this weekend. Pirinelli met ECAC qualification in the discus with a throw of 38.93 meters (127-9), a full 1.02 meters better than the previous SLU mark set by Amanda Miller in 1998. She also met NCAA provisional standards with a 13.91 throw (45-7.75) in the shot put, but her throw of 14.32 meters in the Cortland Classic is her best of the year and ranks second nationally.

Jenna Hulton improved her ECAC seed time in the 1500 meters, running 4:41.96 to finish three seconds off NCAA provisional qualifying time in that event with Wendy Pavlus running 4:48.07 and Alexis Nuffer 4:56.53.

May 2: Alyssa Pirinelli earned Field Athlete of the Meet honors and Wendy Pavlus was named the Runner of the Meet as each won multiple individual championships at the 2009 New York State Collegiate Track Conference outdoor championships at the Merrick-Pinkard Track Complex on Saturday.

April 26: Throwers Lisa Baron and Holly Irion had the top Saint performances on Sunday as the St. Lawrence women's outdoor track and field team prepped for the upcoming New York State Collegiate Track Conference Outdoor Championships by competing in the non-scoring Big Red Invitational at Cornell.

Baron finished second in the shot put with a throw of 11.63 meters and was seventh in the discus with a 33.75 meter throw and sixth in the hammer at 37.92 meters while Iron was second in the hammer with a 43.76 meter throw and finished eighth in the discus.

Other top ten finishes for Saint athletes included a fifth in 15.48 seconds by Meaghan White in the 100 hurdles and a sixth in 2:19.21 by Jenna Hulton in the 800 meters.

White was 12th and Jessica Venezia was 16th in the 100 meters and Venezia was 14th in the long jump and 12th in the triple jump. Alexis Nuffer was 14th, Cassie DiMarino was 15th and Kelsey Rebehn was 17th in the 400 while Megan Derby was 16th and Liz Atwood 17th in the 800. Chelsea McKenzie was 14th in the 1500, Emily Palmer was 12th in the 100 hurdles and Jessica Ingalls was 14th in the javelin for other top 15 performances by Saint athletes.

The Saints will host the NYSCTC Championships at the Merrick-Pinkard Track Complex beginning Friday at 1 p.m.

April 18: Alyssa Pirinelli was a double winner and added to her list of St. Lawrence track and field records and senior Meaghan White was the 100 meter hurdle champion at the Cortland Classic on Saturday.

Pirinelli added the hammer throw to an impressive list of records in the throws and Jenna Hulton flirted with NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 1500 to highlight day one of the Cortland Classic in Friday events.

Pirinelli won the hammer throw with a mark of 51 meters (167-04), nearly five meters better than the previous SLU record and among the top ten throws in the nation thus far this season. She already holds the indoor and outdoor SLU records in the shot put and the indoor record in the weight throw and is close to the Saint record in the discus as well.

Hulton finished second in the 1500 in 4:43.18, just four seconds off NCAA provisional qualifying as the Saints had a solid first day in the two-day competition.

Pirinelli won the shot put with a throw of 14.32 meters (46-11.25), which is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and the second best throw in the country thus far this season. White won the hurdles in 15.86 seconds with Kiersten LaPorte finishing second in 16.42 and Emily Palmer finishing fifth on Saturday.

April 11: Junior Alyssa Pirinelli won three individual titles in the throws, but the St. Lawrence University women's outdoor track and field team had to settle for a second place finish in the Liberty League Championships at Rensselaer on Saturday.

Host RPI denied the Saint women a second straight championship, winning the title by 7.5 points in a meet that was close throughout. RPI finished with 237.5 points with the Saints second with 230 while Vassar finished third with 71 and Union fourth with 58.5.

Pirinelli set the Liberty League record with a throw of 37.45 meters (122-10) to win the discus, won the shot with a 13.06 meter throw and the hammer with a 46.85 meter throw. She was named Liberty League and ECAC Field Event Athlete of the Week.

Sophomore Wendy Pavlus wa a double winner for the Saints in track events, winning the 5000 in 18;43.71 and the steeplechase in 11:20.57. Other winners for the Saints were Meaghan White in the 100 hurdles with a 16.41 clocking, Jenna Hulton in the 1500 in 4:52.92, Whitney Koch in the long jump with a 5.02 meter jump and Jessica Venezia in the triple jump with a 10.56 meter jump.

The Saints also won the 4x800 relay team with a team of Hulton, Chelsea McKenzie, Liz Atwood and Megan Derby running 10:10.98.

April 5: Junior Alyssa Pirinelli started her 2009 outdoor track and field season with a bang on Sunday, winning the hammer, shot put and discus as the St. Lawrence University women's team had seven individual champions and two relay wins in the Continental Invitational at Hamilton to being the outdoor season.

Pirinelli won the hammer with a throw of 46.80 meters, meeting NCAA provisional qualification standards and also met the NCAA provisional mark with a throw of 13.47 meters to win the shot put. She completed her day with a 35.30 meter throw to win the discus.

Other Saint champions were Wendy Pavlus who won the 1500 in 5:05.67, Meaghan White with a win in 15.89 in the 100 hurdles, Liz Schwennker with a win in 1:02.46 in the 400, and Jenna Hulton who won the 800 in 2:23.63. The Saints also won both the 4x400 (4:22.53) and 4x800 (10:03.80) relays. Cassie Dimarino, Whitney Koch, Jessica Venezia and Schwennker ran the 4x400 while Hulton and Pavlus were joined by Liz Atwood and Alexis Nuffer on the 4x800 team.

McKayla Nuffer was second in the 1500 while Kiersten LaPorte was second in the 100 hurdles with Emily Palmer fifth. Schwennker led a sweep of the top four spots in the 400 with Whitney Koch second, Alexis Nuffer third and Kelsey Rebehn fourth while Hulton also led a top-four sweep in the 800, Cassie Dimarino finishing second, Liz Atwood third and Megan Derby fourth. LaPorte finished fourth and Palmer sixth in the 400 hurdles.

March 26: St. Lawrence University athletes swept the Liberty League 2009 Indoor Track and Field Awards as voted on by the league's coaches.

Wendy Pavlus was named Runner of the Year, Alyssa Pirinelli was the Field Athlete of the Year and Jenna Hulton was the Rookie of the Year. First year head coach Kate Curran and her staff shared the Coach of the Year honors.

Pavlus was All America in the 5000 meters with a 6th place finish at the NCAA Championships. A six time Liberty League Track Performer of the Week, she was second in the mile and won the 5000 in the Liberty League Championships, won the 5000 and 3000 in the NYSCTC Championship and won the 5000 at the ECAC Championships. It is her third major Liberty League award.

The Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight season, Pirinelli went into the NCAA Championships with the top throws in the country in both the shot and weight and earned All America in both events. She was the Liberty League champion in both events, setting records in each and was first in the NYSCTC Championships in both events in addition to winning the ECAC shot put title. She has been Field Athlete of the Year three times in her career and was also Rookie of the Year both indoor and outdoors in her first season.
Hulton was six-time Liberty League Rookie of the Week and won the Liberty League Championship in the mile. She was also NYSCTC Champion in the 1000 and second in the mile. She is the fourth straight Saint athlete to earn Rookie of the Year honors.

March 14: St. Lawrence University junior Alyssa Pirienelli earned All America status in the shot put for the fourth time in her career on Saturday, finishing third in the NCAA Division III Championships at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. Sophomore distance runner Wendy Pavlus also came through with an All America performance on Saturday, finishing sixth in the 5000 meters.

Pirinelli, who finished seventh in the weight throw on Friday to earn All America status in that event for the first time in her career, threw the shot 14.04 meters (46-0.75) on her final throw of the trials and that throw stood up for third place through the finals.

Monique Riddick of Montclair State defended her 2007 championship with a 14.27 meter throw. Pirinelli had throws of 13.93, 13.91 and 13.75 meters in the championship round.

Pavlus earned All America status for the second time indoors and the fourth time in her career with her sixth place finish in the 5000. She ran 17:15.15 improving her own SLU record in the event. Elise Tropiano of Amherst led a 15-runner field in 16:58.84. Pavlus has now earned All America honors twice in the 5000 meters, in the steeplechase outdoors and was an All America in cross country last fall.

March 13: St. Lawrence University junior Alyssa Pirinelli finished seventh in the 2009 NCAA Division III weight throw championship at Rose Hulman on Friday.