St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Leeber Invitational
St. John's Places Second Overall At The Leeber Invitational
9/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 24, 2011
Fairfield, Conn. - Due to an unexpected late start to the 2011 season, St. John's cross country has had to come together as a team quickly and a second-place team finish at the Leeber Invitational is a definite step in the right direction. The Red Storm were led by two of their seniors, Samantha Meyerhoff and Nicole Cocozza, who crossed the line within ten seconds of one another to earn third and fourth place finishes overall.
Meyerhoff completed the 5K course at Fairfield University in 19:14.78 which was just 17 seconds off of her career-best time. After an impressive start to the season, Cocozza followed up with another strong effort as she clocked in at 19:28.48. As the season progresses, the two experienced runners should continue to battle for individual championships against tough competition.
Sophomore Chelsea Trant continues to show promise as she placed 11th overall out of the 93 runners who competed with her time of 19:52.46. The cross country team continues to get a boost from junior Alexis Bean who placed fourth on the team for the second time this season after missing almost all of 2010 with an injury. Her time of 20:08.64 was good enough for 15th overall and a personal-best time. Senior Aryon Trujillo rounded out the top-five with a time of 20:15.36 that placed her 19th overall.
Junior Michelle Duffy narrowly missed her second top-five finish of the season with a 20:20.53 finish. Sophomore Angela Jarvela had her best 5K performance to date with a time of 20:29.77. Junior transfer Marisela Acevedo made her Red Storm debut and was able to post a time of 26:04.65.
"We are very pleased to achieve a second place finish as our whole team really improved over the last week," said head cross country coach Jim Hurt. "Samantha and Nicole did a great job challenging the leaders for most of the race and are getting closer to winning. We really look forward to competing at the Metropolitan Championships in two weeks."
The team completed the race with an average time of 19:47.95 and just a one minute difference between their first and fifth place finishers. The closer that split becomes; the better chance St. John's has of competing for team titles as their schedule starts to get tougher.
Sacred Heart University took the team title as they had three finishers place in the top-five. Fairfield University took third place with an average time just 10 seconds off the pace of the second-place Red Storm.
St. John's competes again on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Metropolitan Championships which will once again be held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. The race begins at 2:00 p.m. and features some of the top programs from the New York-New Jersey area.
Players Mentioned
