Senior Wendy Pavlus wasted no time in securing her ticket to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in May, winning the steeplechase in a St. Lawrence University record and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 10:31.28 in the first outdoor meet of the 2011 season at the University of Rochester on Saturday.

Pavlus, who won national championships in cross country and in the indoor 5000 meters earlier this year, is now guaranteed the opportunity to compete for a national title in the steeplechase after winning Saturday's season-opening race by 28 seconds, and is likely to qualify in other outdoor events as well.

Her win, and a victory by senior Lisa Baron in the discus helped the Saints to a second place finish in the 15-team field at the Rochester Alumni Invitational on Saturday to start the outdoor season. Host Rochester won the meet with 142 points while the Saints finished with 113, one more than third place Brockport.

Baron won the discus with a throw of 36.67 meters for the other Saint event win and also scored in the shot put with a 7th place finish and a 10.59 meter throw.

Jenna Hulton returned to action after missing the indoor season and finished second in the 5000 meters, running 18:31.56 with McKayla Nuffer finishing fifth, Jessica Ingalls was second in the javelin with a 28.69 meter throw and Tori Bean was second with a 10.81 meter series, Emily Rebehn was third and Jessica Venezia was fifth in the triple jump.

The Saints also took second place finishes in both the 4x100 and 4x800 relays and were third in the 4x400. The team of Emily Rebehn, Bean, Kelsey Rebehn and Hannah Kinsey ran 51.80 in the 4x100 relay while a team of Jacquelynn Lemme, Toria Koutras, Elizabeth Atwood and Katie Loignon ran 10:02.59 to finish second in the 4x800 relay. Emily Rebehn, Kearsten Cubit, Marissa Rescott and Kelsey Rebehn  ran 4:14.55 for the third place finish in the 4x400.

Other scorer sfor the Saints included Cubit with a third in 1:01.42 and Kelsey Rebehn with a eighth place finish in the 400, Lemme with a third in 2:245.18 in the 800 and a fourth with a 5.01 meter jump in the long jump by Emily Rebehn. Amanda Moreland was sixth in the 1500 in 4:57.64, Kinsey was sixth in the 100 meters in 13.36 seconds, Rescott was sixth in the 400 hurdles in 1:11.42 and Caitlin Boreyko was sixth in the pole vault with a 2.95 meter jump.

The Saints will return to action at the Merrick-Pinkard Track and Field Complex on Saturday when they host the Liberty League Outdoor Championships.