The sport becomes a little less complex for Mike O’Donnell ’08 of Haverhill, MA, as he shifts from fall to winter and spring, but no less varied.

O’Donnell spends his fall as a receiver and kick returner on the Saint football team and helped the team to its first winning season in 15 years in 2006. Once football is over, he turns his attention to track and field, which takes advantage of his running and jumping skills, but does not require catching a ball.

On the gridiron, O’Donnell not only excels at catching the ball, but is also good at running with it after the catch. A second-team All-Liberty League selection as a sophomore and a first-team choice this past season, he led the team in receiving yards, average per catch and touchdowns, catching 29 passes for 652 yards and eight touchdowns. As versatile in football as he is in track, where he competes in a variety of events, he also threw a 40-yard touchdown pass off a reverse and led the team in kick returns, averaging 12.4 yards on punt returns with a long of 79 and 22.0 yards on kickoff returns with a long of 61.

A first-team all-conference election in football and a first-team all conference athlete in track and field as a utility athlete at Central Catholic High School in Haverhill, O’Donnell accounted for 1,340 all-purpose yards as a sophomore and 1,215, an average of 135 per game, as a junior.

As the start of indoor track season approaches in early December, the government major turns his attention to the dash, high jump, long jump and triple jump indoors. He adds the javelin to his repertoire during the outdoor season.