Four saints earn weekly conference honors

Four St. Lawrence University student-athletes were honored by the Liberty League Monday afternoon for their performances during the last week.

After the football team’s first win of the season on Saturday, junior Eric Jones (Watertown, NY/Watertown) was named Co-Offensive Performer of the Week after racking up a career-high 140 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns against Susquehanna. The Watertown, NY, native, who tacked on the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, led the Saints to a 49-42 win over the Crusaders.

The volleyball team earned its 26th win of the season, a program record, following a 3-0 win over SUNY IT on Saturday. In a 1-1 weekend for the Saints, rookie Nyasha Miller (Mt. Kisko, NY/Fox Lane/Taft School) had a team-leading 22 kills, four service aces and 17 digs in seven games, earning ‘Co-Rookie of the Week’ honors.

Two Saints were named “Co-Performers of the Week” for their efforts in the pool over the weekend. Sophomore Jared Pellerin (Plattsburgh, NY/Seton Catholic Central) helped guide the men’s swimming and diving team to a 165-95 victory over Nazareth. Pellerin amassed three individual wins to help lead the Saints to victory over Nazareth on Saturday. His three wins came in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:44.81), where he finished more than two lengths ahead of his next competitor, the 200-yard fly (2:10.84), and the 500-yard freestyle (5:18.67), where he finished more than 15 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.

On the women’s side, junior co-captain Abbey Lynch (Norwood, NY/St. Lawrence Central) won three races and was on the winning 200 Medley Relay team on Saturday despite the women's swimming and diving team losing to Nazareth, 157-142. She used the back half of her swims to come out on top in each event, as she almost even split her 200-yard freestyle to come from third at the 100-yard mark to win the event with a time of 2:02.54. In the 100-yard free, the North Country native paced herself and used the second half of her race to overcome her competitors and touch the wall first with a time of 56.87. In the 100-yard fly, Lynch held off a Nazareth swimmer as she touched at 1:03.10, a little more than two-tenths ahead of her competitor.

Saints Athletics is gearing up for an exciting weekend, as both ice hockey teams begin ECAC hockey action, while the field hockey team hosts the 2008 Liberty League Tournament. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams will head to Hobart and William Smith Colleges for the conference tournament, and the volleyball team is preparing for the Liberty League Tournament at Union. Football, swimming and diving, and cross country will also be in action.