St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Cross Country To Conclude Season at ECAC Championships
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
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QUEENS, N.Y. - For the fifth and final time this season, the St. John's cross country team will head to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., as the Red Storm prepares to close out its 2016 campaign at the ECAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19. S
t. John's will race in the ECAC University Championship 5K at 12:15 p.m., on its home course away from home. With one of the youngest teams in program history, the squad has enjoyed a bevy of success this season including four top-10 team finishes and a pair of first-place team finishes at the NYIT Invite and SJU XC Fall Festival.
"We are looking forward to concluding our very successful season at the ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Saturday. We will run in the University Championship at 12:15 p.m.," said Head Coach Jim Hurt. "Our young team has performed well all year and we hope to run personal-best efforts on the 5K course. Antonia Howard will be in the mix for individual honors after earning All-East honors last year and having won the Metropolitan title a few weeks ago on this same course."
Standout sophomore Antonia Howard, who has led the Red Storm in every race this season, leads St. John's heading into the ECAC Championships. The Sydney, Australia, native captured All-East honors at last year's race with her 24th-place finish, and has won multiple individual titles this season. She also earned All-BIG EAST honors with a 13th-place finish in late October at Van Cortlandt Park.
Howard comes off perhaps the best race of her career at last week's NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, in which she finished 36th-overall against some of the best cross country competition in the country, and shaved almost 30 seconds off her personal-best 6K time.
Coach Hurt will continue with the same lineup he has used as the past couple of meets with Melissa Hidalgo, Elizabeth Costantino, Therese Gallagher, Stephanie Gerland, Jackie Gallagher and Shannon Page.
"We will need a tight pack finish from Melissa Hidalgo, [Elizabeth Costantino], Therese Gallagher, Stephanie Gerland, Jackie Gallagher and Shannon Page to move up in the team scoring. Our practices have been very good and we have run the Van Cortlandt Park course four times this season, so our experience over the course should serve us well. I am excited to see how we conclude the season at the ECAC Championships," added Hurt.
St. John's cross country student-athletes will look to make a splash at this year's ECAC Championships and attempt to finish 25th-place or better, which will earn them All-East honors.
Last year, Izzi Batt-Doyle won the ECAC individual title, becoming just the third student-athlete in program history to accomplish that feat.
Fans can find race results and other important race information here.
Keep up to date on all St. John's cross country news by following on Twitter @StJohnsXCTF and by using the hashtag #SJUXC. To be added to the St. John's women's cross country fans e-mail list send a message to Adam.mcKillop15@stjohns.edu with the subject: "St. John's women's XC e-mail."
Players Mentioned
