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.