Wheaton's All-American high jumper, Jennifer Harlow , wasted no time in serving notice that she is the woman to beat for the 2007 national championship.

Competing for the first time this season, the 2006 NCAA indoor champion won the high jump at the Dartmouth College Relays in Hanover, N.H., over the weekend with a personal best of 5 feet, 8 inches. That mark automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships at Terre Haute, Ind., March 9-10.

Coach Paul Souza was thrilled with the result and is convinced she can do better.

"Each jump at Dartmouth was horrible. Her warmups were horrible," he said. "I was blown away by what she did. I'm really excited for her now."

Harlow also ran the 60-meter hurdles at Dartmouth and finished fourth.

A senior from East Bridgewater, Mass., Harlow is returning after a spectacular junior year in which she won the national indoor title, finished second at the national outdoors and was the NEWMAC athlete of the year for the second consecutive season. She is a four-time All-American.

According to Souza, Harlow has the potential to set a national indoor championship record. The current mark is 5-10 3/4, and she cleared 5-7 3/4 at the 2006 NCAA indoors and 5-7 at the 2006 national outdoor championships.

"She worked her tail off running and lifting last summer and came back at a higher level. Two weeks ago we handicapped everybody and had her do a half approach instead of a full approach, and she jumped almost 5-8. I knew at that point we were dealing with someone on a different level."

Souza said Harlow has the potential to clear 6 feet and qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. The automatic qualifying height is 6 feet, 1/4-inch, but athletes who jump 5-10 regularly are often invited.

Harlow told Souza at the end of last spring that it would be difficult to improve upon her junior year results. He suspects she made that her goal and trained all summer to meet it.

"I think she came back with the resolve to win everything this year," he said.

Ironically, Harlow was unimpressive as a freshman, but "every year after she has gotten significantly better," Souza said. She is one of four senior captains now. Katelyn Teixeira (Seekonk) is another.

Wheaton's 4x200 relay, featuring a pair of Rhode Islanders, finished fourth at the Dartmouth Relays. Sophomore Morgan Jamiel (Warwick/Toll Gate) and freshman Amy LaPere (Westerly) joined with sophomore Celeste Karpow and freshman Brittany Pierce . Karpow ran a leg on the 4x400 relay that finished third.

Another Rhode Islander, Christine Moreau (Lincoln) just missed the final in the hurdles.

"She might be the best of the three (Rhode Islanders), but she's coming off an injury," Souza said. "Amy has a ton of potential as a sprinter and jumper. She's a great kid and hard worker. You don't find too many freshmen like her who come in and want to be better. And what can I say about Morgan. She got the Coaches Award last spring and is training for the pentathlon and heptathlon this year."

Wheaton finished third in the 11-team women's field and sixth in the 12-team men's competition.

"This is the best group I've had," Souza said of his women, high praise considering he has coached national championship teams. "All of them have resolved they want to get better. The effort really stood out this week. Everyone really went after it."

The Lyons will run at the Tufts Invitational Saturday.

RIC's Durgin honored Rhode Island College's Kinsey Durgin is the Little East Conference player of the week after he scored 17 points last Thursday in an 88-80 victory over Bridgewater State and became the 27th 1,000-point scorer in RIC basketball history. Durgin also grabbed 11 rebounds, his season-high, in the game. It was his first double-double of the season. He finished with 12 points and five rebounds Saturday in an 87-79 overtime triumph over Eastern Connecticut. Durgin will return to the court tonight when Southern Maine comes to town for a 7:30 tip-off. RIC (10-1, 2-1) is enjoying its best start in 36 years. The 1971 team won its first 13 games.

Mazzulla Saturday It will be Mazzulla Saturday this week.

Dan Mazzulla , one of the great basketball players to come out of Johnston and a star at Bryant College, will be inducted into the Bryant Athletics Hall of Fame. While he is being honored, his son Joe , one of the best basketball players to come out of the state of Rhode Island, will be with the 13-1 West Virginia Mountaineers when they play at Marquette.

Dan played on two state championship teams at Johnston High School, took his game to Bryant in the early 1980s and played well enough to earn a ticket to the Hall of Fame. After five years of pro ball in Chile and three years living in Los Angeles, where he met his wife, LaTresa , he returned to Johnston, where he is the town's recreation director and girls basketball coach. His niece, Chelsea Marandola , now starring at Providence College, played for him.

His son Joe went to Bishop Hendricken and led the Hawks to three consecutive state championships. He was the 2006 Rhode Island Gatorade player of the year and the first player to commit to West Virginia during the early signing period.

Joe Mazzulla has played in every game this season for the 21st-ranked Mountaineers and is averaging 2.9 points and 9.3 minutes. He scored six points in WVU's 81-71 upset of Connecticut. He plans to major in sports management.

The other Hall of Fame inductees are Beth Connealy , '96, for women's basketball; Charlie Mandeville , coach of women's cross country and track; Mike McKenna , '86, for golf; Jon Sjogren , '88, for baseball; and the 1966-67 men's basketball team.

Knights winless on trip The Community College of Rhode Island men's basketball team returned from its annual post-holiday trip to Florida with a 0-3 record. The Knights were blown out by Miami Dade, 99-61, and Palm Beach, 95-61, and edged by Broward, 69-63. All three are NJCAA Division I programs.

Pat Dame (West Greenwich) had 13 points in the Palm Beach game. Jake Grimes (Pawtucket) finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, Will Lyons (Warwick) with 9 points, 5 rebounds.

CCRI will play at Gateway College in New Haven Thursday night and return to the Cullen Field House in Warwick for a Saturday matinee against Mohawk Valley.

Rhode To Success Day The University of Rhode Island is sponsoring its third annual Rhode To Success Day today and expects 3,400 elementary students from 40 schools to attend the URI-UMass women's basketball game. A 60-minute presentation on the value of an education and a healthy lifestyle is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Ryan Center. Lunch will be served at 11, and the game will start at noon. Last year, 5,100 youngsters participated.

URI has scheduled this event since the Ryan Center opened, but two had to be canceled because of snowstorms.

Rhody basketball fans will be happy to know that the men's and women's coaches show on WHJJ made its season debut last night. Each Monday night for the rest of the season Jim Baron and Tom Garrick will appear with WHJJ's Steve McDonald at Casey's Grill and Bar in Wakefield.

Basketball luncheon College basketball fans will hear from captains of the men's and women's teams in the state at the third Cox Sports Television Rhode Island Basketball Media Luncheon next Monday at noon at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick. Reserve a spot by contacting Scott Gibbons of Rhode Island College at (401) 456-8516 or at sgibbons@ric.edu.

Roundup After a 12-day, 1-3 road trip to Corpus Christi, Texas; Davis, Calif., and Dallas, the Brown basketball team (5-10) will return to the Pizzitola Center Saturday night for its Ivy League opener against Yale. The Bears will visit the Bulldogs in New Haven on Jan. 20 and then begin their customary Friday-Saturday dates Jan. 26 at Dartmouth and Jan. 27 at Harvard. . . . Roger Williams (6-3, 3-0) leads the Commonwealth Coast Conference South Division. Salve Regina (6-4, 1-1) is tied for second. . . . Brown's wrestlers lost four matches at the Lone Star Duals but still are ranked third in New England. Johnson & Wales is sixth, Roger Williams eighth. J&W (8-0) is ranked No. 15 in the nation in Division III. . . . Bryant (8-5, 6-4 NE-10), fresh from a 72-71 upset of 20th-ranked Saint Rose Saturday, will visit Assumption tonight and then host Pace Thursday night in a game that will be televised on Cox Sports Channel 3. . . . Longwood's Lamar Barrett (Providence/St. Andrew's) had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in a 74-62 loss at Yale Saturday. . . . Babson sophomore Norm de Silva (Dartmouth, Mass.) had seven assists, the game-high, in a 75-67 victory over Wheaton in the NEWMAC opener Saturday. . . . Freshman Mercury Fish (Woonsocket) scored 17 points in Johnson & Wales' 64-62 triumph over Norwich Saturday. Coach Jamie Benton 's Wildcats (2-7) are at Connecticut College tonight. . . . URI center and long snapper Kane Crume will play in the inaugural Inta Juise North-South All-Star Classic Saturday in Houston. One hundred seniors will play before NFL scouts and coaches. Crume played in all 11 games last season for the 4-7 Rams. A week later, Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie will play in the 82nd Dell East-West Shrine Game in Houston. DeOssie is a third-team All-American.

mszostak@projo.com/ (401) 277-7340