When a golfer’s swing is off it’s normally a call to the club pro for advice. When Nashua native and Dartmouth College senior James Pleat calls in the reinforcements it’s all about family.

The Nashua native has a vast amount of golfing knowledge at his disposal, and he took advantage of it just in time for his final collegiate event. A little help from his uncle and father helped propel him into a top-five individual finish at the Ivy League Championship on April 28 in Owings Mills, Md. The 2013 Ivy League Championship was a 54-hole, three-day event at the 6,908 yard, par-70 Caves Valley Golf Club.

“My swing was off,” Pleat said. “Based on how I was playing this spring, I didn’t really see this as a possible outcome. I talked to my dad and had a lesson with my uncle a couple weeks before the tournament. It helped me a lot.”

According to Pleat, it’s the short game that causes him to have fits at times, but this spring he just felt a little off with his swing in general.

That’s when his uncle, Joel St. Laurent, stepped in to help.

Laurent, the director of instruction at Manchester Country Club in Bedford and Bedford High School golf coach, went back to basics with his nephew.

“I still have problems with the short game. It’s still the weak part of my game, but getting better for sure,” said Pleat, whose father Phil is one of the most decorated golfers in New Hampshire Golf Association history with 15 overall titles. “I talk to my dad about that all the time.

“But working with my uncle, it wasn’t focused on my short game. It was mostly just to work on my overall swing. My swing goes bad at times, and he helped me get back to fundamentals.”

It worked. In his final round of golf for Dartmouth, Pleat carded a two-over par 72 earning a tie for fourth place and first team All-Ivy recognition. The economics major, with a minor in environmental studies, was the low scorer all three days of the tournament for the Big Green, pacing them to a fifth-place finish as a team behind Princeton, Yale, Penn and Columbia, respectively.

Dartmouth head coach Rich Parker saw the change pay off.

“He’s a tinkerer,” said Parker of Pleat, who finished tied for 11th at the 2012 Ivy League Championship and 25th or worse in 2011 and 2010. “He’s somebody who needs to always be playing to keep his game on the right track. That’s not always possible up here in the northeast. He wasn’t always on his game in the spring, but he worked it out and finished strong.

“He’s one of the top players in the Ivy League. I think he has been all four years even if the numbers don’t show it. There is not a bad thing I could say about James Pleat the golfer or the person. He’s just an awesome kid from an great family.”

Parker new right from the start he would be working with somebody special from the get-go. Because Pleat was a grounded individual.

“You meet some kids at 17 who know what they want,” Parker said. “You meet others who are stuck in a dream world. James knew what he wanted. I don’t think he had this vision of playing golf at Dartmouth and it catapulting him onto the PGA tour. I think James came in here wanting to play four years of college golf as part of a team, enjoy it, and also graduate with a degree from Dartmouth College that he can be proud of for the rest of his life. That’s James Pleat.”

KEVIN ROSENBERG

Competing in the Colonial Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Towson University, Maryland, on May 3 and 4, Nashua High School North graduate Kevin Rosenberg took home the bronze medal in the shot put for the Northeastern Huskies with a personal-best throw of 51.4 feet.

BEKAH JACKSON

Nashua High School North graduate Bekah Jackson hit a home run as second-seeded Plymouth State University led from start to finish in a 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Rhode Island College in Game 2 of the Little East Conference softball tournament hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University in Mansfield, Conn.

PSU’s run didn’t go much further as the Panthers lost to third-seeded Western Connecticut State University 8-2 and 9-1 in a rematch with RIC in the losers’ bracket, the following day.

PSU took a 1-0 lead over RIC in the first inning of the losers’ bracket game when Jackson led off the game with a triple to right-center field then scored on a passed ball. But that ended up as the extent of the offense for the Panthers, who managed just four hits the rest of the way.

ANDY VAILAS

University of New Hampshire junior quarterback Andy Vailas has been named to the College Football Performance Awards Quarterback Award Watch List.

The preliminary list highlights 32 returning performers vying for the top quarterback honor in the Football Championship Subdivision.

“Congratulations to Andy Vailas on earning a spot on the 2013 CFPA Watch List,” CFPA Executive Director Brad Smith said in a released statement. “Vailas has the potential to earn the 2013 CFPA Quarterback Award and become the second UNH player to earn CFPA honors, joining former linebacker Matt Evans.”

Vailas, who appeared in 11 games with six starts last season, completed 126 passes in 217 attempts for 1,558 yards. The Bishop Guertin graduate threw for 18 touchdowns and just three interceptions. The 6-foot-2, 187-pound signal caller ranked second in the CAA and tied for 16th in the nation in points responsible for/game (14.2), and he ranked third in the league and 18th nationally in passing efficiency (143.0). Vailas also cracked the CAA’s Top-10 in total offense/game (182.5 yards/No. 7) and passing average/game (141.6 yards/No. 9).

All CFPA recipients are selected exclusively based upon scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams. All players are eligible for awards at their respective positions and are not preemptively eliminated from consideration.

Vailas received CFPA National QB Performer of the Week Honorable Mention following the Wildcats’ 64-61 loss at Old Dominion (Sept. 22) when he went 23 of 38 for 336 yards and five touchdowns to go along with 14 rushes for 80 yards and a TD.

He earned honorable mention again after going 15 for 26 for 188 yards and three touchdowns while rushing 12 times for 83 yards and a score in a 44-40 home victory against Richmond (Oct. 13).

If you know of a local college athlete that should be recognized in the College Journal, send information on the athlete to sports@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter