PAVLUS THIRD IN 5000, FOUR EARN ALL AMERICA STATUS

March 15: St. Lawrence University first-year runner Wendy Pavlus finished third in the 5000 meter run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at Ohio Northern University and was one of four Saint athletes in Saturday competition who earned All America status.

The most All America finishes since the late 1980s and the most ever for the Saint women’s program, Pavlus was joined by Alyssa Pirinelli in the shot put and Jessica Venezia in the triple jump while senior Geoff Grambo earned All America status in the men’s shot put.

"It was a great day for us," said Saint coach Mike Howard. "Certainly the best in the history of our women's program and one of the best overall with four All Americas.

Pavlus ran 17:16.78, which is officially a new St. Lawrence record and her best time of the year and trailed only Jessica Jordhal of Wisconsin River Falls, who was second in 17:02.89 and champion Jennifer Adams of Keene State, who won in 16:58.71. Pavlus had a slightly faster time at the ECAC championships last weekend, but that time was actually one second slower due to the conversion from banked track to flat track times.

"Wendy ran another great race and was the top true freshman in the field," said Howard.

Venezia, also in her first year of collegiate competition, jumped 11.36 meters (37-3.25) on her final jump of the competition to move into All America status with a sixth place finish. She qualified for the finals with a 11.20 meter series. Shannon O’Keeffe of SUNY Brockport won the national title with a jump of 11.70 meters (38-4.75).

"Jess came through under pressure. She dropped back to ninth in the finals, but came through with a big one on her final jump to move up to sixth."

Pirinelli is now a two-time All America in the shot put after finishing seventh overall with a 13.39 meter (43-11.25) meter throw. She was fifth in qualifying with that throw, but was passed by two competitors in the finals. Monique

Reddick of Montclair State was national champion with a 14.14 meter (46-4.75) throw.

The three scoring finishes for the Saint women gave them 11 points and placed SLU 11 th of 67 teams which scored in the meet.

Grambo finished sixth in the men’s shot with a 16.54 meter throw (54-3.75). The event was won by Bobby Riley of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, who threw 16.94 meters (55-7).

PIRINELLI, PAVLUS AND VENEZIA REPRESENT SAINT WOMEN AT NCAA

Track and field coaches love to predict outcomes. They will pour over performance lists prior to meets and try to project the final results based on predicted performances and placings by their athletes.

It has been a tough year, but in a good way, for St. Lawrence University men’s and women’s track and field head coach Mike Howard. While his veteran performers have produced according to plan, three young athletes have definitely exceeded expectations and will be out to cap outstanding indoor seasons when they compete in the NCAA Division III Championships at Ohio Northern University Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore thrower Eric Jones, freshman runner Wendy Pavlus (left) and freshman triple jumper Jessica Venezia (below, right) will join shot put standouts Geoff Grambo and Alyssa Pirinelli and miler Erik Donohoe in the NCAA meet, St. Lawrence’s largest contingent of qualifiers in 20 years.

The 20-year connection weaves through the 2007-2008 season in more ways than one. Jones broke the 20-year old record in the weight throw set by All America Rich Wright in his senior season of 1988. Wright roomed with sprinter Tim McCrossen as a senior and the duo was dubbed “The Muscle and the Missle”. Grambo and Donohoe are roommates and would like nothing better than to repeat the dual All America status of the previous roommate pair to go to the same national championship meet.

Grambo, the Liberty League and NYSCTC champion in the shot put set the St. Lawrence record in the shot with a 16.46 meter throw in the NYSCTC meet and that throw is the fourth longest in the nation this season, just under a half meter shorter than leader Bobby Riley of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. A two-time Liberty League shot champion and the 2007 Liberty League indoor field performer of the year, he will make his second straight appearance in the NCAA championships.

“Geoff has been there before and will provide some leadership for us. He has had a great indoor season and wants to go out as close to the top as he can, so he should go into the meet relaxed,” Howard explained.

Pirinelli is another veteran of NCAA championship competition, qualifying in the shot both indoors and outdoors last season and earning indoor All America honors with a third place finish. She has won three straight Liberty League, NYSCTC and ECAC shot put titles and her qualifying mark of 14.20 meters, a SLU record, is second in the country this season, trailing only Lauren Lucci of Widener, who has a 14.65 meter qualifying mark.

“Having Alyssa at the NCAA meet is going to be a help for our two younger athletes. Even though Alyssa is only a sophomore, she has been to NCAAs twice and I think her experience and maturity will have a calming effect on Wendy and Jess,” said Howard.

Donohoe, an All America in cross country last fall with a sixth place finish, broke the oldest record in the St. Lawrence record book last weekend when he won the mile in 4:12.02 at the ECAC Championships at Harvard. His time, which converts to 4:13.02 for NCAA ranking because it was run on a banked track, is the tenth best in the country this year and breaks the Saint record which was formerly held by Jim Howard, older brother of Saint coach Mike Howard.

“Erik qualified by beating a number of runners who had beaten him before,” said coach Howard. “He and Grambo room together, so it is going to be something special with both of them in the NCAA meet. His run Saturday fed off the excitement of Jones’ great throw in the weight. It was infectious and it ignited the SLU side of the facility. Erik ran a great race from start to finish. When the pace slowed a little, he knew he had to take it out, because he had to get the time to get into nationals…just winning wasn’t going to be enough and he dug down on his own to get the time he needed.”

Grambo, Pirinelli and Donohoe may have been expected to make the NCAAs when the Saint coaches looked at potential, but the big years and qualification by Jones, Pavlus and Venezia were a pleasant surprise to the coaches.

Jones, who plays fullback on the football team in the fall, spent time as both a sprinter and a thrower on the track teams as a freshman and has had a breakthrough season in the 35 pound weight as a sophomore. An athlete who combines size and strength with speed, Jones saw a steady progression of personal bests once the January portion of the schedule kicked in. He threw 16.24 in the first meet of the new year, met NCAA provisional standards with a 16.62 throw the next time out, threw 16.72 at the Syracuse Invitational and 16.92 to win the Liberty League title.

He dipped below 16 meters for the first time since December when his best throw at the NYSCTC was a 15.83, good for fourth, but he unleashed a monster at the ECAC Championships, setting the ECAC and SLU records with a throw of 18.94 meters, the second best in the country this year. Zach Wilson of Monmouth, Il, threw 18.98 the same day as Jones threw his career best.

Jones’ record throw is .61 meters longer than the mark held by Wright, set in Wright’s junior year of 1987.

“There are some similarities between Eric and Rich in that both are football players who also participated in track and field,” said Howard. “The most impressive thing with Eric is that he is throwing this well in only his second year in the event. The weight throw is not a high school event in New York State, but he has really picked up the technique quickly. It took Rich three or four years to really grasp the knack of throwing the weight and the hammer, but he was All America in both and a national champion as a senior in the hammer. For Eric to even make the NCAA meet in his second year throwing the weight is a feat in itself.

“Eric has all the attributes to become a special kind of thrower. He is strong, lean and fast,” Howard added. “Most throwers are either big and strong and don’t move as well, or quick and don’t quite have the same strength. Eric has a combination of both and when the technique comes together, things like the throw at the ECACs will happen. He is still relatively raw and the event still has to fall together for him. In the throws it often comes down to who is on on that particular day, and he certainly was on at the ECAC meet.”

Pavlus is another athlete who has exceeded early career expectations, although the Saint staff may have had an inkling of her potential as a track athlete when she had six top ten finishes and qualified for the NCAA championships in cross country in the fall. She has the sixth fastest time this season in the 5000 meters at 17:19.35 and has steadily lowered her time in the event as the season has progressed.

“Wendy was a successful high school runner, but the fact that she was at Tupper Lake kept her under the radar a bit when it came to the bigger schools recruiting her. With Amy Farrell (a former SLU runner) as a coach, she knows out raining style, so it may have been a little bit of an easier adjustment for her,”

explained Howard. “I don’t think any of us expected her to come in and do what she has done so far. She finished 50 th at cross country nationals and most of those 49 runners ahead of her are also the ones who will try to qualify for the 5000 at nationals. Based on cross country results, she needed a real leap to get there and she has gone from 18:12 in December to the 17:30s and then to 17:16 which is an unprecedented improvement in that quick a time frame.

“Wendy’s best event is really the steeplechase, but she certainly is a gamer. She worked her way through eight runners at Cornell to win that race, and won’t back down against any competition from any division. She has a good race sense, but she also has a killer instinct and wants to win every time out.”

Venezia, who owns the SLU triple jump record and has the ninth best jump in the nation at 11.56 meters (37-11.25) is an athlete that Howard expected to compete at nationals…just not as a freshman.

“Jess was a highly touted high school athletes who we thought would be at nationals in two or three years. There was no assumption that she would make it this year, but it was pretty clear on the first day of practice that she has the work ethic and desire to be a really good one. She’s another gamer and is just going to continue to get better.”