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Saints Mourn the Passing of Ryan Wells

Statement by Coach Mike Howard

It is with much sadness and a very heavy heart that I write to inform all you of the passing of one of the finest individuals to ever wear a Saints Track and Cross-Country uniform. Ryan Wells, class of 2005, passed around the noon hour today after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Ryan was a close friend to many of us and an absolute giant among our alumni family. Regardless of whether you had the opportunity to get to know Ryan personally or you were simply the beneficiary of hearing one of the many stories of his passionate ability to fight back, time and time again, an illness that very few gave him a chance to beat, it is very clear that he was an extremely remarkable individual.

I had an opportunity to visit with Ryan a couple of weeks ago at his family house in Canastota and our conversation that night was typical of how he approached life on a day to day basis. Despite being in intense pain from his illness and despite knowing that his time with us was limited, he was much more interested in talking to us about our teams, our families and the Syracuse Orangemen that he was about spending any time at all talking about himself. Simply put , he was a man well ahead of his time with regards to his ability to make everyone around him feel good about themselves and the life ahead of them.

As a runner, Ryan was an avid Steve Prefontaine fan and I guess, looking back at his life it is very easy to see the many parallels that their two lives followed given the number of things that he was able to accomplish before passing at such a young age. Prefontaine often echoed the motto, "To give anything less than your best was to sacrifice the gift". There is no question that Ryan fought daily, in sickness and in health, to never sacrifice the gifts that he was given in life and that triumphant legacy will forever be etched into the heart of our programs here at St. Lawrence and to all those who's life's he touched in so many ways.

Funeral services will be held at 8:45am from Campbell-Dean Funeral Home, 300 South Peterboro Street, Canastota, NY and 9:30am from St. Agatha's Church where the funeral mass will be celebrated.  Friends may call the funeral home from 1pm to 3pm and 6pm-9pm on Sunday. 

Coach Howard

 

KUENZEL AND WOODWARD JOIN SAINTS COACHING STAFF; TEAM IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT UPCOMING SEASON

Aug 24: Two new faces will join the Saints Track and Field coaching staff this season. Matt Kuenzel and Erin Woodward combine to bring eight years of experince competing at the collegiate level.

 

Woodward, a 2005 graduate of St. Lawrence, returns to her Alma Mater after teaching middle school in Miami, FL for a year. A two-year captain of the Saints Track and Field team, Woodward was the Indoor and Outdoor Most Valuable Player during the 2004-05 season. She was a 2nd place NYSCTC javelin finisher in 2004 and 2005, a 2nd place heptathlon finsher in 2004 and a member of the 2nd place finishing 4x200 relay in 2004. Head track coach Mike Howard said he was elated that Woodward decided to return to St. Lawrence.

 

"Erin was a classic example of a player who came in as a good high school player and left a great collge athlete," Howard said. "She worked really hard as a multi-sport athlete and I think her work ethic is something that will spread like wild fire on our team."

 

Kuenzel, a 2006 graduate of Geneseo was a four-time NCAA Division III National Qualifier in the shot put and finished 11th, 15th, 9th and 13th respectively. He was the 2005 ECAC Champion in the shot put and holds the Geneseo School Record in the indoor and outdoor shot put and the discus. Howard said Kuenzel will be an assest to the Saints throwers because of his knowledge of all the throwing events.

"Not only was Matt one of the most dominate performers in the state but he was also a national qualifier, so he will bring experience on a regional, state and national level," Howard said. "It is very rare that you find someone with extensive accomplishments like that who knows all of the throwing events. Not to mention he can still throw extremely well."

 

The Saints track and field team will come together for the first time during the second week in October. Although they return a young team and add 10 to 15 incoming athletes, Howard said their goals still remain the same.

 

"Our goal every year is to win the Liberty League Championship and be competitive in the state championships and send as many athletes as we can to nationals," Howard said. "That goal will not change this year."

 

 

FRENCH 7 TH AT VERMONT CITY MARATHON

 

May 30: Jon French, who graduated earlier this month from St. Lawrence University and was a four-year star on the cross country and track teams finished seventh overall and first among his age group at the 18 th annual Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, VT on Monday.

 

French ran the marathon in 2:36.33, just four minutes out of third overall and was seventh among 1447 total runners. He was the fastest runner in the 24 and under category.

 

He was not the only St. Lawrence competitor in the race as the event included marathon relay teams and two were captained by Saint track and field athletes. Tyler Ludington captained a team which finished fifth among the men’s relay teams in 2:31.11 and Julia Sayles captained a women’s team which was fourth in 3:19.37.

 

 

BUCKINGHAM EARNS ALL AMERICA WITH 6 TH IN NCAA DECATHLON

 

May 26: St. Lawrence University senior Zane Buckingham finished sixth in the 2006 NCAA Division III Decathlon Championship at Benedictine College in Illinois, turning in the 71 st All America performance by a Saint male competitor since 1974.

 

Buckingham, who finished with 6581 points, becomes the second Saint multi-event athlete to earn All America and the first decathlete. Reilli Liiva was a two-time heptathlon All America for the Saint women’s team.

 

Day two got off to a good start in the competition as Buckingham won the 110 meter hurdle competition in a time of 15.40, earning 803 points and jumping into second overall.

 

He dropped to sixth after finishing 14 th in the discus with a throw of 31.21 meters (102-4) and finishing ninth with a 12.95 meter jump in the pole vault. He held that position with a 14 th place finish in the javelin with a throw of 37.52 meters (123-1) and cemented his All America status with a sixth place finish in 4:41.39 in the 1500 meters, earning 672 points and maintaining a comfortable lead on the seventh place finisher.

 

Senior Matt Robertson of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the competition with 7188 points. A total of 17 competitors started the event and 15 finished. Buckingham finished in the top five in five of the ten events, winning both the hurdles and high jump and finishing second in the long jump.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUCKINGHAM THIRD AFTER DAY ONE OF NCAA DECATHLON

May 25: St. Lawrence University senior multi-event standout Zane Buckingham is third after day one of the 2006 NCAA Division III Decathlon Championship and is less than 100 points out of the lead.

 

Buckingham, who scored 3622 total points on day one of the ten-event test, trails Matt Robertson of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who has 3706 points and Adam Lendowski of Wisconsin Whitewater, who has 3630. Kris Becker of Middlebury is fourth with 3600 and Fritz Nugent of Redland is fifth with 3562 in a 17-competitor field.

 

The Saint senior was first in the high jump with a leap of 1.90 meters (6-2.75), finished second in the long jump with a 6.97 meters jump (22-10.5,), earning 807 points in the event and was fourth in the 100 meters in 11.39 seconds and fifth in the 400 meters in 50.55 seconds. He earned 700 points or more in four of day one’s five events. He was 12 th in the shot put with a best throw of 10.84 meters for 536 points.

 

Competition concludes on Friday with the pole vault, discus, 110 meter hurdles, javelin and 1500 meter run. The top eight finishers in the event earn All America honors.

 

 

GRAMBO, FRENCH LEAD SAINTS AT ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

May 18: St. Lawrence University senior Zane Buckingham had a 300 point lead on his nearest competitor after day one of the ECAC Decathlon Championships at Springfield College Thursday, but did not complete the event, withdrawing from competition on Friday after being assured a spot in the NCAA Division III Championships. Jon French was second in the 10,000 and Geoff Grambo was third in the shot for the top performances in the meet for the Saint men.

 

Buckingham, who is a provisional qualifier for the NCAA championships, won three of the five first day events outright, tied for first in the high jump and was fifth in the shot. He scored over 700 points in four of the first events and has a 325 point lead going into the second half of the competition on Friday. He won the 100 in 11:36, earning 782 points, took the long jump with a 6.86 meter leap, earning 781, was fifth in the shot put with a 11.22 meter throw for 559 points, tied for first in the high jump with a 1.98 meter leap for 785 points and won the 400 in 51.64 for 741 points. In addition to the decathlon, the Saint standout also ran the 110 hurdles on Thursday and qualified for the Friday finals with a time of 15.57. He also scratched from the hurdles in Friday competition.

 

"After seeing what had happened in other meets and with poor weather on Friday, we decided to pull Zane out of the competition and use the first day as a warm-up for the NCAAs" said Saint coach Mike Howard. "There was no sense in risking injury with a spot assured."

 

Buckingham has the tenth best performance of the year in the decathlon, established at the NYSCTC Championships.

 

Jon French finished second in the 10,000 meters for the Saint men in the other Thursday performance, running 32:20.09.

 

Grambo was third with a throw of 15.57 (51-1) in the shot with Joe DeLaura finishing 10th with a 14.14 throw on Frideay. Other Saint top ten finishes included a tie for fifth in the high jump by Richard Williams, and a seventh in the 1500 in 4:00.54 by Erik Donohoe.

 

Kevin Burrall was 21st in the 400 in 50.62 and Mark Burnham was 19th in the 800 as the Saints finished 16th as a team with 18 points.

 

 

GRAMBO MEETS NCAA PROVISIONAL STATUS IN SHOT

May 12: Sophomore Geoff Grambo threw a season best 15.61 meters (51-2.75), surpassing NCAA provisional qualifying standards at the Saints Last Chance Qualifier at the Merrick Pinkard Track Friday night.

It was the only qualifying mark surpassed in the meet which included competitors from the Ottawa Lions, Ottawa Track Club, Queen’s University, Hartwick and Saint track alumni in addition to current SLU competitors.

 

The Saints will compete in the ECAC Championships next weekend.

 

DONOHOE 2ND IN 1500, SAINTS 7TH IN NYSCTC CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6: A second place finish in the 1500 meters by sophomore Erik Donohoe highlighted a rainy Saturday for the Saint track team in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference outdoor championships at the Merrick-Pinkard Track complex.

 

The Saints finished seventh in the 16-team field as Cortland State was the men’s team champion with 152 points with RPI second with 108 and Brockport third with 105. Cortland, which recently rejoined the NYSCTC, won its first team title since 1975.

 

The 1500 was one of the highlight races of the day as Donohoe opened a lead, but Jesse Williamson of RIT tracked him down and edged the Saint sophomore in the stretch. Williamson won in 3:57.89 with Donohoe second in 3:58.69.

 

Mark Burnham had the other top four finish for the Saints in Saturday’s competition with a fourth in 1:54.31 in the 800 meters.

 

Other scoring finishes for the Saints included a sixth in 11.19 by Jay Thornhill in the 100 meters, an eighth from Zane Buckingham in the 110 hurdles, a sixth by Kevin Burrall in the 400 in 50.46 seconds, and eighth by David Lloyd in the 800, a seventh by John Ostler in the 1500 and an eighth place finish by the 4x400 relay team of Burrall, Lloyd, Schuyler Heiss and Burnham.

 

In field events on Saturday, Buckingham finished sixth in the high jump at 1.82 meters and Geoff Grambo was eighth in the shot put.

 

4X800, BUCKINGHAM TAKE DAY ONE TITLES FOR SAINTS

 

May 5: The Saint 4x800 relay team set a Merrick-Pinkard track record in winning that event during day one of the New York State Collegiate Track Conference championship and senior Zane Buckingham won the long jump title for the second consecutive year as the Saints stand fourth as a team after the first day of competition.

 

The Saint 4x800 team blew the field away as Erik Donohoe opened a big lead on the third leg and Brian Aucter finished it off with the Saints finishing in 7:44.45, nearly four seconds better than the previous track record. Freshman Mark Burnham ran the opening leg and sophomore David Lloyd the second leg as the Saints never trailed in the race. Cortland finished second four seconds behind the winning Saint team.

 

Buckingham jumped 6.87 meters (22-6.5) on the second jump of the long jump competition and it held up as the winning jump by nearly a full meter. John Brennan of Brockport was second with a 6.80 meter jump. Nick Perzanoski finished seventh for the Saint with a 6.35 meter jump.

 

Other top finishes for the Saint men on Friday included a fourth in the 10,000 meters by Jon French in 32:32.61 with Ben Greenberg 15 th, Kevin Emblidge 19 th and Hunter Karnedy 20 th.

 

In qualifying heats for Saturday finals, Buckingham and Perzanoski both advance in the 110 hurdles, Buckingham with the second fastest time of the day at 15.04 seconds. Jay Thornhill had the third best qualifying time in the 100 meters at 11.10 and Kevin Burrall advanced in the 400 with a 50.12 clocking.

 

Competition resumes at 10 a.m. on Saturday.