St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Claims Team Title At Coach Omeltchenko Invitational
4/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
April 20, 2015
QUEENS, N.Y. -- For the second week in a row, the St. John's track & field team wrapped up a highly successful weekend of action by traveling a contingent of student-athletes to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to compete in nearby Kings Point, N.Y. On Sunday, the Red Storm scored 136 team points to claim the women's team title at the Coach Omeltchenko Invitational, registering four winning efforts, a number of personal-best performances and a BIG EAST-leading mark.
"Our team completed a great weekend of track at the Coach Omeltchenko Invitational at Kings Point with winning and podium efforts," said St. John's head coach Jim Hurt. "We look forward to building upon the weekend's results at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Thursday."
As was the case a week ago at the USMMA Eight-Way Meet, the Red Storm's throwing unit led the charge on Sunday, as St. John's swept the top-three places in the hammer throw competition and placed three competitors in the top-four of both the shot put and discus. Turning in the throw of the day was shot put winner senior Natasha Amazan, who on her very first toss of the competition reached 13.61 meters to set a new seasonal best and BIG EAST-leading mark as of Sunday night. Claiming runner-up honors in the shot put was freshman Nyla Woods, who posted a personal-best mark of 12.56 meters which ranks fifth-best in the BIG EAST this season, while junior Patricia Clark was fourth in 11.26 meters, another personal best.
The same trio was responsible for a victory and three of the top-four places in both the discus and hammer throw competitions. Clark was the discus winner with a throw of 33.28 meters, Amazan was second in a seasonal-best effort of 32.66 meters and Woods also set a seasonal best in reaching 30.80 meters for fourth place. In the hammer throw, Woods claimed victory with a throw of 51.72 meters, junior Ann Dagrin was the runner-up with a mark of 49.30 meters and Amazan reached 49.29 meters for third. Completing a fine afternoon for St. John's throwers, freshman Danica Wens was the runner-up in the javelin competition with a mark of 31.35 meters.
The Red Storm's lone victory on the track on Sunday came in the 4x400-meter relay, as the team of juniors Tiffany Evanego and Veronica Thompson, and freshmen Melissa Hidalgo and Jasmine Burkett combined for the winning time of 4:11.66, each after competing in individual events.
Scoring a pair of podium finishes in the short sprints was freshman Teresa Ehiogu, who clocked a time of 26.36 seconds for runner-up honors in the 200-meter dash and 13.03 seconds for third place in the 100-meter dash. Also scoring in the long sprint was Burkett, fourth in 26.68 seconds, and sophomore Arnelle Thomas, sixth in 26.99 seconds.
Stepping down from her specialty 800-meter distance, Thompson claimed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.51 seconds. The Red Storm also received two scoring efforts in the 800-meter run, as Burkett was third in 2:20.88 and classmate Hidalgo fourth in 2:33.69. St. John's lone representative in the hurdle events, Evanego clocked a time of 1:07.58 in her 400-meter hurdle season debut to claim third place.
Earlier in the weekend, St. John's enjoyed a memorable two days of competition at the Larry Ellis Invitational hosted by Princeton University on Saturday and Sunday. On the meet's first day, junior Stephanie Van Pelt broke a 31-year-old program record in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:27.10, a personal best of more than seven seconds, while freshman Izzi Batt-Doyle lowered St. John's 3,000-meter steeplechase record by more than 55 seconds with a time of 10:19.54. On Saturday, junior Pariis Garcia recorded personal-best efforts over 200- and 400-meters, posting the eighth-best performance in school history in the latter with a 54.29-second clocking.
St. John's is back in action on Thursday, traveling to Philadelphia to appear in the famed Penn Relays set for April 23-25.
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