St. John's University Athletics
Jim Hurt Announces 2016-17 Track & Field Schedule
11/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
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• 2016-17 Indoor/Outdoor Schedule
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's Track & Field Head Coach Jim Hurt has released his team's 2016-17 indoor and outdoor schedule, which features nine different championship events and two home meets. The indoor campaign kicks off on Thursday, Dec. 8, with the Red Storm's lone indoor home meet of the season, the Bill Ward Invitational, a pre-Christmas tune up at St. Anthony's High School in Huntington, N.Y.
"We have put together an indoor and outdoor schedule that allows our team to test themselves at the highest level of collegiate track & field," said Hurt. "We return a talented and experienced team and have added an outstanding recruiting class, so our expectations are high across the board."
Coach Hurt and his staff return 24 letterwinners from last season's squad, which captured a second-place team finish at the 2016 BIG EAST Indoor Championships and a third-place team finish at the 2016 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. The Red Storm enjoyed a bevy of individual successes as well, including 24 All-BIG EAST members for the indoor and outdoor seasons, five NCAA Outdoor Regional qualifiers, two NCAA Outdoor National qualifiers and two NCAA All-Americans in graduated seniors Stephanie Van Pelt and Claire Mooney.
With the five NCAA Outdoor Regional qualifiers, Coach Hurt has now guided his Red Storm to 26 consecutive appearances at the NCAA track & field postseasons and looks to make it 27-straight this year.
The Bill Ward Invitational, named after the legendary St. John's track & field coach, serving as an early test before a busy 2016-17 slate sees Hurt's runners, throwers and jumpers take part in a possible 10 indoor competitions. The Red Storm will stay close to home the majority of this season as the indoor slate features five meets at the Ocean Breeze Park Track & Field Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y., and two at the New Balance Track & Field Armory in Washington Heights, N.Y.
The Ocean Breeze facility has become a bit of a home-away-from-home for the Red Storm as the Johnnies raced four times last season at the 135,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art indoor track, which was opened in November of 2015.
St. John's will spend the entire month of January at Ocean Breeze with three-consecutive one-day weekend meets hosted there. These meets include the Great Dane Meet, hosted by the University of Albany, on Saturday, Jan. 14, the Penn Invite, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Jan. 21, and the Villanova Open, hosted by Villanova, on Friday, Jan. 27.
February marks the first championship meet of the season for the Red Storm as the Johnnies are set to compete at the 2016 Metropolitan Indoor Championships, at Ocean Breeze, on Feb. 2-3. Last season, St. John's finished second in the team standings at the METS thanks to seven individual victories.
Following the METS, St. John's will run in the 110th NYRR Millrose Games, held at the Armory on Saturday, Feb. 11. The following weekend (Friday, Feb. 17), St. John's will return to the Armory for the inaugural Artie O'Connor Invitational, which honors the renowned Fordham track & field coach.
St. John's wraps up its February schedule with the BIG EAST Indoor Championships on Feb. 24-25. The BIG EAST Indoor Championships are held, for the second-straight year, at Ocean Breeze. Last season, St. John's claimed a second-place team finish, which marked the best BIG EAST indoor team finish since 1989.
In March, the Johnnies will once again race in the ECAC Indoor Championships, held at Boston University on March 4-5. Coach Hurt and his squad finished third in the team standings at last year's ECAC Championships.
The final portion of the Red Storm's indoor schedule is set for March 10-11, as the Johnnies vie to return an athlete to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas. Priscilla Frederick was the last Johnnie to compete in this event back in 2011.
St. John's will roll right into its outdoor track & field schedule as Coach Hurt has two outdoor meets scheduled for the month of March. The 2017 outdoor slate kicks off with the Penn Invite, held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 17-18.
Coach Hurt and his staff have the team's first multi-event weekend planned for the end of March. The Red Storm will send multiple groups to both the Florida Relays, at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., and the Sam Howell Invite, at Weaver Stadium in Princeton, N.J., on the weekend of March 31-April 1.
The weekend of April 7-8 is a planned date of competition for the Red Storm, however the coaching staff has not yet decided on which event. The following weekend, April 14-15, the Red Storm looks to defend its 2016 Metropolitan Outdoor Championships team title, held at the Bauer Track & Field Complex in Piscataway, N.J.
On April 21-22, the Johnnies have their second and final multi-event weekend planned. Coach Hurt as his staff will send different groups to three separate meets that weekend, including: the Georgia Tech Invite (George C. Griffin Track in Atlanta, Ga.), the Larry Ellis Invite (Weaver Stadium), and the Wolfie Invitational (University Track in Stony Brook, N.Y.).
After an outstanding performance at last year's Penn Relays, St. John's once again returns to historic Franklin Field on April 27-29. Last year, the Johnnies enjoyed its most successful Penn Relays in program history as the Johnnies placed in six Championship of America (COA) events and won two ECAC titles, which is unprecedented in St. John's track & field history.
As the outdoor season rolls into its final two months, St. John's returns home to host its annual Tom Farrell Classic at DaSilva Memorial Field on the St. John's University Queens campus. Set for Saturday, May 6, this is St. John's second and final home meet of the 2016-17 campaign.
The rest of the 2017 slate features championship meets. On May 12-13, St. John's will look to improve upon a third-place team finish at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. Villanova will host this year's BIG EAST Outdoor Championships.
On May 25-27, the Johnnies will look to send multiple student-athletes to the NCAA East Regional Championships, held in Lexington, Ky. Last year, Coach Hurt sent four individuals and one relay team to the NCAA East Regional. Van Pelt and Mooney enjoyed such successes at this NCAA Division I Championships qualifying meet that the duo earned the opportunity to compete at the 2016 NCAA Division I National Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Once again, the NCAA Division I National Championships will be held at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The 2017 NCAA Nationals are set for June 7-10.
With a younger, but experienced squad, Coach Hurt and his staff are expecting big things from the 2016-17 St. John's track & field team.
"Our sprint unit will once again be a scoring force as [Sprints Coach Aliann Pompey] has a talented and deep sprints roster. Our jumps unit returns BIG EAST Indoor and Outdoor individual champions in the long jump, as well as scorers in the multi-events. [Throws Coach John McCree]'s throws corps is stocked with young talent that can dominate at the Eastern level and get onto the national scene as well," added Hurt. "Our mid- and long- distance unit looks to be a factor on both the indoor and outdoor ovals after posting an excellent cross country season. We have improved our team in all event areas with hardworking individuals that will look to get to the top rung of the podium in our conference championships. We are looking forward to very exciting indoor and outdoor seasons in the months ahead."
To receive updates on all team news, follow on Twitter @StJohnsXCTF and by using the hashtag #sjutf. To be added to the St. John's women's track & field fans e-mail list send a message to Adam.mckillop15@stjohns.edu with the subject: "St. John's women's TF e-mail."
Players Mentioned
