Dec. 10, 2012

EASTON, Pa. – A pair of freshmen took home weekly awards from the Patriot League in their inaugural collegiate competitions as Jarrel Bobb and Devin Smith each one Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the men’s and women’s sides, the League announced Monday.

Bobb finished in fourth place in both the long jump and triple jump events at the Lehigh Fast Times Before Finals event on Friday. His mark of 6.9 meters in the long jump was 10th in school history and he hit a mark of 13.88 meters in the triple jump.

"We were excited when Jarrel choose Lafayette, but there's always a big jump between high school and college," said head coach Julio Piazza. "What has pleased me has been his work ethic and his commitment to being an excellent student-athlete this fall. It certainly showed this weekend, but I think his work ethic is going to enable him to do some really nice things for Lafayette in the future." 

Smith placed third in the 200-meter dash at Lehigh, running the race in a time of 26.22 for the ninth-fastest mark in school history.

"Devin is certainly someone who has the ability do some great things down the road," Piazza said. "I want to echo the same sediments that I said about Jarrel. Devin is an extremely hard worker and is going to do everything she can to maximize her ability. I think one of the hardest things for all freshmen is understand how hard you have to work to be successful at this level and Devin definitely doesn't have any issue with the work side of things."

Additionally, junior Elise Buffinton earned an honorable mention honor as her ECAC-qualifying leap of 3.6 meters in the pole vault at the Princeton New Year’s Invitational was good enough for second place.

The Lafayette track & field squad is back in action on Jan. 12 for the Armory Saturday Night Races event at the NYC Armory.