St. John's University Athletics
Host St. John's Opens Season At Bill Ward Invitational
12/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Dec. 6, 2013
- WATCH: Coach Hurt Discusses The Upcoming Season & Schedule
- 4th Annual Bill Ward Invitational Tentative Schedule of Events
- Follow St. John's Track & Field on Twitter
QUEENS, N.Y. - Coming off a spring season that saw the Red Storm send five athletes to the NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., St. John's will open its 2013-14 indoor campaign on Friday, Dec. 6, as host of the 4th Annual Bill Ward Invitational at St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington, N.Y.
"We've only ever had four head track coaches here at St. John's since the 1940s, so it's special for us to compete at our meet named after the great Bill Ward," said Red Storm coach Jim Hurt. "We have a great group of kids this season and we're excited to get our schedule underway."
Over 15 teams are expected to compete at Friday's meet, which is scheduled to start a 3:30 p.m. with the first field event of the day. The first running event is scheduled for 4 p.m. Last season, the Red Storm won 10 individual events at the season-opening Bill Ward Invitational, and returns six athletes looking to defend titles from a year ago.
Senior Rikka Lovely won the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes at last year's event, and enters the season as St. John's second fastest performer all-time over 200 meters. Junior Claire Mooney was last year's winner at 500 meters, the same distance in which she claimed an ECAC title as a sophomore to become the Red Storm's first individual ECAC champion since 2010.
In the middle distances, sophomores Veronica Thompson and Kerri Butler will look to defend their titles at 800 meters and 1,000 meters, respectively, both having competed on the Red Storm's cross country team this fall. Butler was also the runner up in the one mile run at last year's Bill Ward Invitational.
In the throwing events, seniors Dannette Hinton and Natasha Amazan return to defend titles in the weight throw and shot put, respectively. Hinton went on to earn St. John's highest finish at last year's BIG EAST Championships with a bronze in the weight throw, while Amazan comes off a junior campaign that saw her win a second consecutive Metropolitan Championship shot put title.
To keep up to date on all team news this indoor season, follow on Twitter @StJohnsXCTF and by using the hashtag #stjohnstf. To be added to the St. John's women's track & field fans e-mail list send a message to Edouard.boulat13@stjohns.edu with the subject: "St. John's women's TF e-mail."
Players Mentioned
