SAINTS ROLL TO THIRD STRAIGHT LIBERTY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

 

Feb. 16: St. Lawrence University’s men’s indoor track team harvested points in bunches in several events and junior Jay Thornhill was a double winner as the Saints rolled to their sixth Liberty League indoor track and field championship in the last seven years at the Newell Field House Saturday afternoon.

 

Thornhill won both the 55 meter and 200 meter dashes and freshman Dan Ramsey, later named Liberty League Rookie of the Week, set a Liberty League record with a win in the 5000 meters as the Saints rolled up 199 points with RPI second with 162 in what was strictly a two-team meet. Hamilton had 64 points and Union was fourth with 52.

 

The Saints are ranked 25th in the nation among men's Division III track teams in the Feb. 20 USTFCCCA Division III Coaches Power Rankings.

 

The men’s quest for a third straight team championship got off to a good start for the Saints as the first event on the track produced a Saint win and a Liberty League record. The all-rookie Distance Medley Relay team of Chris Funch, Jonathan Mellinger, Josh LeBlanc and Brandon Kenny ran 10:43.48 to trim almost three full seconds off the meet record set in 2006.

 

The Saints also flexed some scoring muscles in the first field events to be completed as they scored 20 points in the shot. Liberty League Field Athlete of the Week Geoff Grambo won the event with a 15.74 meter (51-7.75) throw, his best of the year and a NCAA provisional mark. Gabe McBride was second with a 13.87 meter throw and Eric Jones finished fifth with a 13.15 meter throw. SLU’s throwers piled up another 22 points in the weight as Eric Jones was conference champion with a 15.22 meter (55-6.25) throw, Grambo was second at 14.10 and Jesus Ruiz was fourth. The Saints captured 42 of a possible 62 points in the throws.

 

They also scored three athletes in the long jump as Nick Perzanoski was second with a 6.42 meter (21-0.75) jump with Devaun McFarland finishing fifth and Chris Leon sixth.

 

Ramsey trimmed nearly 11 seconds off the record in the 5000 meters, winning in 14:59.01 with John Ostler second, Ben Greenberg third and Ian Schofield sixth as the Saints took 25 points in the event.

 

SLU picked up another 18 points in the mile and the first three runners were all under the Liberty League record. Hamilton star Peter Kosgei won the race in 4:11.52, taking 14.2 seconds off the previous record while Erik Donohoe led the Saint contingent with a second place finish in 4:17.38 with Terrance Fox third in 4:22.58 and Mark Burnham fourth in 4:31.90. While Kosgei set his second meet record of the day in winning the 800, it was another 20-point performance for the Saints as they took the next four places in that race. David Lloyd was second in 1:58.05 followed by Donohoe in third, Kenny in fourth and Burnham in fifth.

 

Thornhill won his first event of the day in the 55 meters with a 6.62 clocking with McFarland second and Leon sixth for another 19 point event. He came back to win the 200 in 22.99 seconds with McFarland again second and Cody LaVack sixth.

 

Other scoring finishes for the Saints included a third in 52.39 in the 400 by Sky Heiss with John DeLago sixth in 53.09; Perzanoski finished third in 8.00 seconds in the 55 hurdles and was third with a 1.82 meter jump in the high jump with Fox finishing fifth. Perzanoski, who will defend his NYSCTC multi-event championship next weekend, also finished fourth in the triple jump with a 12.79 series. Stephen Moore was fifth at 3.76 meters in the pole vault and the Saint 4x400 relay team of Joe Shehata, DeLago, Funch and Geoff Millard finished second in 3:30.86.