VENEZIA THIRD, WHITE FOURTH IN NYSCTC PENTATHLON

Feb. 24: St. Lawrence University first-year athlete Jessica Venezia finished third in her first collegiate pentathlon championship and junior Meaghan White was fourth as the 2008 New York State Collegiate Track Conference championship opened with the multi-event championships at SLU’s Newell Field House on Sunday.

Newell will also be the site of the remainder of the meet which will get underway Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday.

Venezia and White earned 11 points toward the team scoring for the Saints while Rochester, led by event winner Jamie Landry, earned 13 points.

Landry won the pentathlon title with 2936 points with Ashley Mrozek of Brockport second with 2653. Venezia finished with 2631 points while White had 2561. Elizabeth Atwood, another Saint rookie, won the 800 meters in the final event of the competition and was tenth overall.

Points are awarded based on performance in five events: the 55 hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 meters.

Venezia finished ninth in the hurdles, but finished in the top four in the other four events. She was fourth in the high jump with a 1.51 meter leap, earning 523 points; fourth in the shot put with a 8.74 meter throw worth 447 points and tied for first with a 4.93 meter jump in the long jump, worth 540 points. She finished third and earned 629 points in the 800 meters with a time of 2:35.23.

White (right) was third in the hurdles and earned 719 points with a 9.34 clocking and picked up 511 points with a second place finish in the shot with a 9.72 meter throw. She also finished third in the long jump at 4.66 meters, tied for ninth in the high jump and was eighth in the 800 meters.

Atwood earned 678 points with a 2:31.17 clocking in the 800 for her event win. She also tied for fifth in the high jump with a 1.38 meter jump, earning 491 points.

PAVLUS SHATTERS SCHOOL RECORD IN 3K

AT DENEAULT INVITE

Feb. 23: First-year Wendy Pavlus led the St. Lawrence University women’s indoor track team on Saturday with the only first place finish of the day as the Saints competed at the Marc Deneault Memorial Invitational, hosted by Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The meet included several Division II teams in addition to top Division III competitors and Division I Cornell.

Pavlus crossed the finish line at 10:13.77, nearly 13 seconds faster than the previous school record of 10:26.48, set by Liz Ludovici in 2007.

Other highlights from the meet included two second-place finishes by sophomore Alyssa Pirinelli who also achieved NCAA provisional marks in both the weight throw and the shot. In the weight, Pirinelli threw a 15.29, while she threw a 13.65 in the shot.

First-year Jessica Venezia had a third place finish in the triple jump, finishing with 11.36 meters and was sixth in the long jump with a 5.17 meter jump.

Senior Maia Moyer had an impressive finish in the 60-meter hurdles, placing fourth with a time of 9.95, a career best.

Other top ten performances for the Saints included a sixth by Beth Muller in the 200 meters in 27.42; a fifth by Elizabeth Atwood in 1:22.69 with Kelsey Rebehn seventh in the 500; sixth by Michelle Laframboise in 5:30.68 in the mile; a fifth place finish in 3:09.88 by Alexis Nuffer with Katie Loignon seventh and Laframboise ninth in the 1000; Lindsey Taylor was ninth in 2:25.40 and Chelsea McKenzie was 10th in the 800 meters and Emily Bean finished ninth in the pole vault.