Eight Saints, Varsity Eight Crew Earn Conference Accolades

April 28: The Liberty League announced its weekly award winners on Monday afternoon, and eight St. Lawrence University student-athletes and the women's Varsity Eight were amongst those honored. 

The St. Lawrence University women's crew squad's varsity eight won its third straight Liberty League Championship on Saturday, and was named the conference's Boat of the Week for its efforts. The Saints won the event by open water, crossing the finish line with a time of 7:21.0, more than eight seconds ahead of second place Skidmore. Sophomore Lizzy Stokes-Cawley stroked the boat, while first-year Jessica Burdett, senior Amelia Bell, first-year Maggie Fellows, senior Amelia Lalley, senior Eloise Lachance, sophomore Kathleen Slocum and senior Jane Connolly rounded out the championship boat.  Junior Lauren Reed coxed the varsity crew.

Senior Molly Swan was named the Liberty League's Co-Performer of the Week for softball for the third consecutive week.  The Clifton Park, NY native had a solid week at the plate for St. Lawrence in doubleheaders against Potsdam State, Rochester and St. John Fisher. Swan hit .474 (9-of-19) with four home runs and 11 RBI's throughout the week and scored seven runs.  She is now only one home run shy of tying the University record (7).

The Saints' men's tennis team, which will be under consideration for the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in a few weeks, swept the Liberty League awards this week.  Junior Ren Gates played impressively against Hamilton, winning both his #2 doubles match and #6 singles match to help the St. Lawrence University men's tennis team defeat the Continentals and land the Pennington, NJ native Performer of the Week honors.  Meanwhile, first-year teammate Adam Gerber earned Rookie of the Week honors after defeating his opponent in the #4 singles match against Hamilton, 6-4, 6-2.

A trio of first-year students also racked up Rookie of the Week honors, including Jeff Duggan, Brigid Hurley and Matt DeLuca.  Duggan helped the St. Lawrence men's golf team to victory at the Oswego Invitational with a fourth place individual finish, shooting rounds of 76 and 72 for a 148 total.  Hurley, meanwhile, helped the women's lacrosse team go 2-1 in conference play to wrap up the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, totaling five goals in three games including the game-winning tally against archrival Clarkson University.  Finally, DeLuca hit .700 in three games for the Saints' baseball team, going 7-for-10 with three runs scored and three RBI's.

Rounding out the Liberty League awards this week were Dan Ramsey and Wendy Pavlus, who were named the Track Performers of the Week.  Ramsey finished 10th in a 38-runner field in the 10,000 meters at the Penn Relays Thursday night. His time of 30:22.28 is a personal best and one of the top times in Saint program history. It is in the top ten nationally at that distance in Division III.  Pavlus finished fifth in the 26-runner 10,000 meter field at the Penn Relays Thursday night and was the top Division III runner in the field. Her time of 35:12.04 is the fastest in the nation this season and an SLU record. It meets NCAA automatic qualification and she is now in the top ten in three events nationally, the 5k, steeplechase and 10k.

With the spring sports headed towards the post-season, this weekend is likely to provide plenty of drama.  The baseball team will host Rensselaer for a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at Tom Fay Field, while the softball team looks to earn a spot in the inaugural Liberty League Tournament when facing Skidmore and Union at home on Saturday and Sunday.  The women's lacrosse team will host St. John Fisher for "Senior Day" in the 2010 regular season finale.  In games away from Canton, NY, the men's lacrosse team will need a win over Hamilton on Saturday and help from Skidmore to clinch a spot in the post-season tournament, while the men's and women's track and field and men's and women's crew teams will compete in the New York State Championships.