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SLU's Pavlus wins fourth straight NCAA 5000 Meter Championship

Posted 3/13/11

St. Lawrence University senior Wendy Pavlus won her fourth straight NCAA championship race on Saturday, winning the NCAA Division III indoor 5000 meter championship for the second straight season. …

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SLU's Pavlus wins fourth straight NCAA 5000 Meter Championship

Posted

St. Lawrence University senior Wendy Pavlus won her fourth straight NCAA championship race on Saturday, winning the NCAA Division III indoor 5000 meter championship for the second straight season.

Pavlus, the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Division III cross country champion, successfully defended her indoor 5000 meter title, winning by nearly eight seconds in a personal best time of 16:51.78, the fastest in Division III this season. Christina Valerio of John's Hopkins finished second in 16:59.65 and was the only other runner under 17:00 in the 15-runner field.

"There are a lot of girls who are very talented runners," said Pavlus following her win. "There are girls who have run faster times than I have in Division III in other seasons...there is always competition out there and it comes down to who is ready that day. In today's race the pace went out great."

Pavlus ran 16:54.71 on a banked track at the Armory in New York City last weekend to win the ECAC Championship, improving her own ECAC record. She improved that time on the flat track at Capital University on Saturday evening.

"Wendy ran a very smart race and has steadily improved her times," said Saint coach Mike Howard. "She has had the experience now of running against the best competition there is in Division III and winning four times. I think running in the National Championships in cross country really helped her from a confidence standpoint when it comes to her races in track.

"Winning back-to-back 5000 meter titles indoors and back-to-back cross country championships certainly puts her in an elite class of athlete at any level. There aren't many who can claim one national championship to say nothing of four."