St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Indoor Track & Field Season Roundup
3/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
March 13, 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. -
The St. John's track & field team has plenty of momentum heading into the outdoor season as the indoor season recently concluded with a fifth-place finish at the ECAC Indoor Championships.
The track & field team excelled during championship season with five All-EAST and six All-BIG EAST performances, including Claire Mooney's gold medal in the 500-meter dash at the ECAC Championships.
"We are quite pleased with the indoor season that culminated with Claire's 500-meter ECAC Championship run and a top-five finish at the meet," said head coach Jim Hurt. "Our team worked hard all year, and it was gratifying to see their effort pay off in our championship meets. We plan to move forward off our indoor momentum into the outdoor season."
The Red Storm finished fifth out of a 65-team field that included some of the top teams in the Northeast at the ECAC Indoor Track & Field Championship. It was the best Red Storm finish since a fourth-place mark in 2006.
Mooney highlighted the ECAC Indoor Championship experience with her individual title in the 500-meter dash. The sophomore sprinter became the Red Storm's first individual ECAC Champion since Priscilla Frederick won the high jump at the 2010 event. Mooney ran a career-best time of 1:12.01 nearly a full second ahead of the competition.
Teammates Trudy-Ann McLean and Rikka Lovely joined Mooney in capturing medals for the Red Storm at the ECAC Championship. McLean took third in the 500-meter dash to accompany Mooney on the podium. Lovely closed out her indoor career with a second-straight 200-meter bronze medal. Lovely ran a career-best 24.00 second time in the 200-meters beating her third-place 2012 time by .03 seconds.
Danette Hinton earned All-EAST honors in the weight throw along with the 4x400 team of Mooney, Molly Ellis, Shayna Presley and McLean.
Hinton also added a BIG EAST bronze medal in the weight throw to her ledger with career-best 19.08 meter effort. Ellis also ran a season-best time in the 400-meter dash, as she sprinted to a 54.60 second time. Mooney, Lovely and McLean also all earned individual All-BIG EAST honors for the Red Storm. Mooney, Ellis, Presley and McLean registered sixth-place in the 4x400-meter relay to secure All-BIG EAST honors for the team.
For the second-consecutive year, St. John's took second-place at the Metropolitan Indoor Championships with four Red Storm athletes taking individual titles. Ellis and Mooney took the mid-sprints winning the 400 and 500-meter dashes respectively. Hinton and Natasha Amazan also swept the throws for the Red Storm with Hinton taking the weight throw and Amazan capturing the shot put crown.
The Red Storm excelled at the NYU Team Challenge on Jan. 19, 2013 as the team made a push for qualifying and captured first-place at the New York City Armory-hosted meet.
Academics
Senior track & field student-athlete Rikka Lovely was recently honored with the 2012-13 American Eagle Outfitters BIG EAST Institutional Scholar-Athlete Award for her excellence on the track as well as in the classroom. Each Institutional Scholar-Athlete award winner receives $2,000 toward graduate studies.
Currently working towards a Bachelor's of Science and Communicative Arts, the senior boasts a cumulative GPA of 3.22 during her time at St. John's. Lovely intends on continuing her education with graduate studies at St. John's University.
Senior track & field student-athlete Stephanie Barnes took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity last week as she attended the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C to usher in the second term of President Barrack Obama.
"It was an amazing experience; being able to see President Obama speak live and get inaugurated was incredible," said Barnes. "Words can't express how excited I was. There were people from all over the world that were there to witness this, and I was so happy to be there right in the center of the action."
Barnes took part in the Collegiate Presidential Inaugural Conference with over 900 other students from all over the world. The conference is organized in conjunction with every inauguration and allows students the opportunity to experience the events of the presidential ceremony, interact with political experts and leaders and connect with extraordinary students from all across the globe.
The opportunity allowed her to see President Obama speak live in front of thousands before being sworn in for his second term. Barnes also got to hear influential political minds such as James Carville and the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. speak. Barnes described shaking Jackson's hand as "breathtaking" and recalled it as the most memorable part of her trip along with visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on Martin Luther King Day.
Alumni
A number of Red Storm alumni continue to compete and excel past their collegiate running days. The two former St. John's track & field representing the program at the 106th Millrose Games both achieved third-place finishes, as Priscilla Frederick and Chanel King both found their way to the podium in their respective events. Frederick cleared 1.83 meters (6 feet), .01 meters better than her best indoor mark at St. John's, to finish third in the John Thomas Women's High Jump field. Frederick cleared the 1.83 meter mark on her second try, but then failed to clear the 1.87 meter bar that the top-two finishers passed over. Frederick still sports similar red and white colors, as she now competes for New York Athletic Club.
King also recorded a third-place finish in the Muscle Milk Women's Weight Throw. The former St. John's standout, now a member of CPTC New Balance, threw 16.80 meters finishing behind a pair of NYAC competitors.
On December 8th at the USA Club Cross Championships in Lexington, Ky., Jane Vongvorachoti placed 27th and helped her Central Park Track Team take sixth in the team championship. Jane played soccer and then came out and ran cross country & track & field during her collegiate career at St. John's.
Marsha Horan was named one of the Event Managers for the USA Staff to the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow this coming summer. Marsha long jumped and tripled jump for St. John's in the early 1990's and ranks among the best in program history.
Follow the track & field program all season long through RedStormSports.com and on Twitter (@STJ_Track_XC).
