Senior Valerij Petrulevich picked up first- and second-place finishes this weekend at the Rice Invitational in Texas.

But he and his teammates did not pick up their luggage when they returned to Syracuse.

‘There’s 26 orange bags around somewhere,’ said assistant coach Dave Hegland. ‘They can’t be too hard to find.’

Many of the athletes were missing equipment for practice Monday. Freshman Ramon Sosa practiced in basketball sneakers. He also sported a new hair style, mixing a perm and a jerry curl, stirring up some fun during practice.

The meet was similar, as SU athletes had the opportunity to try some different events. Sosa and Petrulevich were two of a handful of runners who ran their standard events, but assistant coach Enoch Borozinski’s jumpers and multi-event athletes had a lighter weekend.

Triple jumper Sheron Mark finished second in her top event, improving upon her NCAA qualifying mark. Borozinski also let her run the 100-meter dash and throw the shot put against several other teammates.

‘Otherwise, things get a little monotonous,’ Borozinski said. ‘If you’re mind’s not into it, your performances suffer and you see marks that you know you’re better than.’

Mark, Kaity Lambracht and Jillian Drouin all ran next to each other in the 100 meters, finishing first, second and third in their heat.

Jake Palas, a decathlete, was able to run the intermediate hurdles, a race that he competed in frequently during high school. Borozinski knew Palas wanted to hurdle and he rewarded him for his work to that point. The sophomore finished .15 seconds from the Big East qualifying standard in one of the most grueling races in the sport.

‘It’s a weird reward,’ Palas joked.

Palas’ classmate, Joey Ziminsky finished second in the steeplechase and freshman Kathleen Sanborn took third in the 1500 meters.

SU will travel to Princeton, N.J. this weekend. Borozinski’s group will get back to business, working toward the Big East Championships starting May 6. The traveling is greatly reduced for the rest of the season, too.

‘From here on, it’s gonna slow down because we’ll be able to drive to most meets,’ he said. ‘So we can get back into some good practices for the next few weeks.’

The Orange will not fly to Princeton, greatly reducing the chance of losing luggage. Hegland said the athletes had to ask for extensions in class to hand in homework and many were without spikes for practice. But Palas was only worried about one essential.

‘I had to buy a new (toothbrush),’ he said. ‘You can’t live without a toothbrush.’

Published on April 3, 2005 at 12:00 pm