St. John's University Athletics
Track & Field Alumna Inducted Into Niagara Hall Of Fame
7/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
July 22, 2009
- Niagara Hall of Fame Official Press Release and complete list of accomplishments
- Sonja Fitts St. John's Profile (PDF)
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's track & field alumna and Hall of Famer, Sonja Fitts (Walters) was inducted into the Niagara Track & Field Hall of Fame this past week in Rochester, N.Y.
A Rochester, N.Y., native, Fitts graduated from St. John's with a B.S. in computer science in 1992. During her four-year career with the Red Storm, Fitts was a 20-time BIG EAST All-Conference selection and five-time All-East/ECAC selection.
She set four BIG EAST Outdoor Records, including three Villanova Jumbo Elliot Track Stadium records, and one BIG EAST indoor record in the hammer, discus and shot put. In 1992, Fitts earned three ECAC titles, in her respective events: the hammer, shot put and weight throw. Fitts won eight Metropolitan Conference Championships, five outdoor and three indoor and is currently ranked second in the St. John's record books in the outdoor shot put with a distance of 14.66 meters (48 feet, 1.25 inches). When she graduated in 1992, she held the record in both the indoor weight throw (19.15 meters; 62 feet, 10 inches) and the hammer throw (57.26 meters; 187 feet, 10 inches). She was also the 1992 Indoor BIG EAST Championship's Women's Performer of the Meet.
Before being inducted into St. John's Athletics Hall of Fame, Fitts represented her alma mater on the global stage as well, winning the silver medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in the hammer throw, set a world record in the 20 lb. weight throw in 1992 at 18.92 meters (61 feet, 1 inch), was a member of the 1989 USA Junior Track & Field team for both the shot put and the discus thro and was a two-time Penn Relays Champion in her senior season in the hammer and discus throws. In 1994 and 1995, she was ranked No. 1 in the United States in hammer throw. She was also a multiple-time Metropolitan Athletic Congress Woman Athlete of the Year has the standing record at Columbia University's Lawrence A. Wien Stadium in the hammer throw, set in 1992 with a distance of 57.16 meters (187 feet, 6 inches).
Joining Fitts as part of Niagara's Hall of Fame Class of 2009 are J. Kimberly "Kim" Batten of Florida State University, Lewis "Deerfoot" Bennet and Steve Dering of BIG EAST-foe Syracuse University.
