Wilmington Town Crier: "Parrella Having A Record Season At Worcester State"

Worcester, MA --- At this point in his college track-and-field career, there's only one thing left to accomplish. Wilmington native Jon Parrella, a senior at Worcester State University, has already been part of four school individual or group records for the Lancers, and qualifying for the NCAA national meet in the 4x100 relay with teammates Duy Truong, Stephen Gannon, and Matthew Alley would be the ultimate way to go out on a high note.

Parrella and his teammates will have two more chances for that starting this weekend at the Outdoor Open New England's at Stonehill College and then at the ECAC Meet at Springfield College on May 16-17.

It would surely mark a fine finish to a terrific career for Parrella, who couldn't have foreseen all his success when he decided to follow in the footsteps of his three older brothers and take part in the sport as a freshman at Wilmington High school. Parella's siblings, Matt, Chris, and Phil all ran track for Wilmington, where Jon Parrella would become a member of the Division 3 state champion 4x400 meter relay team with teammates Bobby Folk, Caleb Rogers, and Jimmy DiNuccio.

Parrella decided to continue competing in track at WSU, but it was mostly for recreational purposes.

"I was just coming in looking for a group of friends to be with and a place to fit in," said Parrella, who is now one of four captains on the squad. "And it turned into a form of dedication and has driven me forward [to grow] as a person."

Parrella has grown so much in his maturity as an athlete he was honored Tuesday at the WSU sports banquet with the Senior Male Lancer Award, with whom he is sharing with basketball standout Monte Goodwin. The award represents the athletes who not only thrive in competition but also those who represent the team just as well off the playing grounds.

"Jon was one of those guys," WSU veteran track and field head coach Al Halper said. "He's a good leader. In his sophomore year, I could see that, so I asked him to step up. From that point on, he's done a great job doing stuff for me."

As an example, the coach said, "If I need a guy to take a recruit around campus to show them around, Jon's the one to do that. Always helping out, that's part of what the Lancer Award is, not only what he does on the track, but also the behind the scene stuff he does for the program. He gives back in so many ways."

Meanwhile, Halper, also had the highest of praise for Parrella as a pure athlete.

"He competes at the highest level that we could have asked him to," the coach said. "I knew he had some talent. I knew he was a quality kid.

"Coming in, he helped build the program in so many ways. He's one of the top kids on the team. The program has done well over the last four years because of guys like Jon. He's been part of one of my larger classes who have stayed with the program until graduating and that's huge.

"Jon, because of his athletic expertise, has covered a lot of ground, the 200 [meters], the 400, the 600, the 500, he's got the range we look forward to and he fits the bill. He's been a classy kid from day one."

Even before Parrella arrived at WSU, Halper knew he made an outstanding selection.

"I pursued him pretty heavily, and he's made progress," Halper said. "He's a hard worker who puts everything into it and he does it as well in the classroom."

Because Parrella is also an outstanding student, he represents the men's track and field team on the Student Advisory Athletic Council (SAAC). As the team representative, Parrella helps assist the school's academic counselor by contacting and speaking with those team members who would like academic support by talking with someone in their peer group.

"He does so many things above and beyond," Halper said, noting he also appoints Parrella to make sure things are running smoothly at practices. "He's a super kid."

And one who has found success on the track in all facets. Parrella, a svelte 5'10", 145 pounds, has certainly felt the taste of both individual and team accomplishment.

On the individual side, Parrella set the WSU school indoor record in the 500 meters last February at the Open All-New England's at Boston University, crossing in 1 minute and 7.93 seconds, before later breaking his own mark with a time of 1:06.98.

Parrella is also in a healthy in-house competition with teammate Kevin Maciel, a junior at WSU, who is Parrella's training partner in the 400 hurdles. Maciel, who hails from Tewksbury holds the Lancer record in the event with a time of 54.80 seconds, only a hundredth of a second better than Parrella's time.

"They push each other," Halper said.

Meanwhile, In the relays, Parella's been a contributor to three WSU records, including the outdoor 4 x 100 meter, in which Parrella, Truong, Alley, and Gannon set the bar with a time of 42.1 seconds at the MASCAC Championships just two weeks ago at Bridgewater University; the indoor 4x400 which saw Parrella, Ramses Rafael, Justin Trafford, and Gannon break the old mark with a time of 3:20.1 in February; and the outdoor 4x400, with Parrella, Rafael, Devlin Crawford, and RJ Stahelski storming to a time of 3:19.41 in 2011.

Parrella said the most fascinating of those records was in the outdoor 4x400.

"We weren't supposed to break that one," Parrella said of the expectations to surpass the time of 3:23. "It was the last meet for seniors in 2011. RJ wanted to leave with a school record or at least try and we beat our previous record by four seconds. We just gave everything we had in the last meet. We wanted to do well."

Parrella is hoping his group has that kind of determination when it makes its bid to go to the NCAA's this spring.

"Our last goal of the season is to make it to the NCAA meet in in the 4x100 relay," he said.

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