VETERANS LEAD SAINTS TO ANOTHER LIBERTY LEAGUE OUTDOOR TITLE

April 12: The 2008 Liberty League Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Rensselaer did not go exactly the way the Saint coaching staff had it figured. And that was just fine as despite pre-meet point predictions which had Rensselaer emerging as the winner, the Saints came away with their second straight outdoor men’s championship and joined the women’s team in a clean sweep of 2008 titles.

The Saint men’s and women’s track programs swept the Liberty League championships for the third time since 2002, winning team titles in both men’s and women’s indoor competition and the two outdoor championships. The Saint men have won the last two outdoor championships while the women have won five of the last seven.

With more field events in the outdoor championship and the addition of Vassar in the running events, the Saint staff’s predictions had the men finishing second. The Saints scored 14 or more points in five events including 22 in the 5000 meters and finished with an impressive 220-186 lead on Rensselaer with Union a distant third with 98 points, Hamilton fourth with 91 and Vassar fifth with 20.

Jay Thornhill, Geoff Grambo and Nick Perzanoski were double champions for the Saint men with Perzanoski and Thornhill also running on the champion 4x100 relay. Rookies Dan Ramsey and Brandon Kenny also won titles for the Saint men.

Thornhill won the 100 in 11.09 seconds and the 200 in 22.65 seconds while Grambo won the shot put with a 16.38 meter throw, the discus with a 40.59 meter throw and placed fourth in the hammer. Perzanoski won the 400 hurdles in 54.55 and the long jump with a 6.66 meter leap and was third in the 110 high hurdles and third in the high jump.

Ramsey led a 22-point harvest for the Saints in the 5000 meters with a win in 15:28.11 with Ben Greenberg third, John Ostler fourth and Jacob Malcomb finishing fifth. Kenny won the steeplechase in 9:46.81 and was third in the 400 hurdles.

The Saint team of Perzanoski, Thornhill, John DeLago and Jon Mellinger won the 4x100 relay in 43.88 seconds and the Saints won the 4x800 relay in 8:01.56 with a team of Mark Burnham, Geoff Millard, Jeremy Mwenda and David Lloyd. SLU was also second in the 4x400 relay.

Burnham added a second with Erik Donohoe third in the 800 and Donohoe was second, Terrance Fox third and Lloyd fourth in the 1500 meters. DeLago added a second in the 400 and was fifth with Mellinger sixth in the 200. Chris Leon scored for the Saints with a fifth in the 100 and a fifth in the long jump while Fox added a sixth in the high jump.

Jeremy Beaudette was third in the steeplechase, Stephen Moore was third in the pole vault and Gabe McBride was fourth in the shot and fifth in the discus. Jesus Ruiz scored with a third in the hammer while Craig DiGiovanni was fourth and Donohoe sixth in the javelin.