SAINTS MEET NCAA TIMES, SET RECORDS AT PENN RELAYS

April 24: St. Lawrence athletes turned in NCAA provisional qualifying performances in three events and broke two Saint records in day one of competition at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Thursday.

 

The St. Lawrence Distance Medley Relay team set a SLU record with a 10:21.80 clocking at the Penn Relays on Friday as the team of Terrence Fox, Brandon Kenny, Mark Burnham, and Erik Donohoe finished 21 st overall and first among Division III teams in the Championship of America race.

 

The Saint 4x400 men’s relay team of Craig DiGiovanni, John Mellinger, John Delago, and Jay Thornhill finished ninth in its heat and 68 th overall in 3:28.70.

 

Saint shot putter Geoff Grambo finished sixth in the Eastern Championship division of the shot put throwing 15.80 (51.10). Triple jumper Jessica Venezia jumped 10.95 meters and finished 27th in the Eastern Triple Jump championship as the only Division III competitor in the event..

 

Alyssa Pirinelli improved her own SLU record and was within .02 meters of NCAA automatic qualification with a throw of 14.18 meters (46-6) which was second in the Eastern Championship shot put competition. Diane Gmiter of St. Francis (PA) won the Eastern Championship, one of three shot put competitions for collegiate women, with a throw of 14.82 meters.

 

Erik Donohoe finished fourth and met NCAA provisional qualifying standards in the 5000 meters, running 14.30.64. Donohoe was just five seconds off the 24 year-old SLU record and two seconds away from NCAA automatic qualifying. He was part of a 44-runner field in the Collegiate Championship 5000 meter race which was won by Michael Anderson of Providence in 14:27.99.

 

Freshman Dan Ramsey met NCAA provisional qualifying standards in the 10,000 meters, finishing 18 th overall and third among Division III competitors with a 30:48.31 clocking. A total of 32 runners competed in the race, which was run at 10:45 p.m., and won by Liberty’s Evans Kigen in 29:16.12.

 

Wendy Pavlus set the St. Lawrence record in the 5,000 in 17:25.28 and was the first Division III runner in the Collegiate Championship race for women, finishing 27 th overall and meeting provisional qualification.

 

Carleigh Fedorka threw 34.29 in the javelin, just short of her best throw thus far this season.

 

The Saint women’s 4x400 relay team finished seventh in its heat with a time of 4:06.24. The team of Lindsey Taylor, Alexis Nuffer, Jessica Venezia and Beth Muller was 76 th overall and ran against Maryland Baltimore County, Mary Washington, Navy and Salisbury State from Maryland and Pennsylvania’s Lock Haven and Kutztown. Lock Haven won the heat in 3:59.55 and Texas A&M was the overall champion in the women’s 4x400 with a 3:32.25.

 

Geoff Grambo, Venezia and men’s 4x400 and Distance Medley Relay teams will compete on Friday. Grambo is entered in the shot and Venezia in the triple jump.