PIRINELLI WINS THREE, PAVLUS TWO AS SAINTS TAKE LIBERTY LEAGUE TITLE

April 12: Sophomore Alyssa Pirinelli dominated the throws with championships in the shot, discus and hammer, rookie Wendy Pavlus added titles in the 5000 and steeplechase and the Saint women’s outdoor track and field team won the 2008 Liberty League outdoor championship by a comfortable margin at Rensselaer on Saturday.

The Saints finished with 232 points with Rensselaer a distant second with 162. Hamilton was third, Union fourth and Vassar fifth in the meet.

The Saint men’s team also won giving the Saints a sweep of 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.

Pirinelli and Pavlus each set records in the meet on Saturday, Pirinelli improving her own record in the shot put to 13.79 meters and Pavlus running 11:01.56 in the 3000 meter steeplechase to trim 9 seconds off the record set by the Saints’ Laura Clarke last year.

Pirinelli won the discus with a 36.95 meter throw with Lauren Chrapowitzky second with a 35.80 throw and Holly Irion third at 35.72 meters. Lisa Baron finished sixth to give the Saints 25 points in that event. Pirinelli won the hammer with a 46.57 meter throw, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, with Irion fifth and Chrapowitzky sixth while Baron was fourth, Meaghan White fifth and Irion sixth in the shot.

Carleigh Fedorka was the other Saint throwing champion with a win with a 33.57 throw in the javelin. Phylicia Martel was fourth and Maia Moyer sixth in that events.

Rookie Jessica Venezia joined Pavlus as first-year winners for the Saints as Venezia won the long jump with a 4.98 meter leap and was second with a 11.12 meter series in the triple jump. She also finished fifth in the 100 meters and ran on the second place 4x400 meter relay team. Pavlus ran 19:09.17 to win the 5000 meters. Sophomore Alexis Nuffer added a title in the 800 with a win in 2:22.34 with Chelsea McKenzie second in 2:24.41.

The Saints also won the 4x800 relay with a team of Katrina Loignon, Megan Derby, McKenzie and Alexis Nuffer running 10:01.82.

Beth Muller took second in both the 100 and 200 meters while Lindsey Taylor was second and Derby fourth in the 400. Loignon was third and Michelle Laframboise was fifth in the 1500 while White was third, Moyer fifth and Jen Leach sixth in the 100 hurdles. Whitney Koch was fourth in the 400 hurdles and Hillary St. John was fifth in both the 5000 and steeplechase.

The Saint 4x100 relay team of Taylor, Muller, Alexis Nuffer and McKenzie was second in 52.51 and the 4x400 relay team of Elizabeth Atwood, Muller, Venezia and Taylor was also second, running 4:12.12.

Derby finished third, Sarah Mills was fourth and Atwood fifth in the high jump while Emily Bean was third in the pole vault and Koch added a fourth in the long jump.