St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
NYIT Invite
St. John's Takes Second at NYIT Invite
9/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's cross country team completed its second meet of the season Saturday; claiming second at the NYIT Invitational from historic Old Westbury on Long Island.
"Our top four all ran good races but we could not hold off Seton Hall who ran very well," said Head Coach Jim Hurt on his team's meet.
Elizabeth Costantino led the way again for the Red Storm by finishing second overall in which she shattered her previous best with a time of 18:53.43. That's back-to-back weeks for the junior in setting new personal bests in the 5K as Costantino was only one-of-two runners to finish under 19 minutes.
Finishing close behind was teammate Therese Gallagher at 19:04.53, also a personal best, to come in third overall. This also marks back-to-back weeks for Gallagher breaking a new personal-best time in the 5K. Joining both Costantino and Gallagher in the top-10 was sophomore Stephanie Gerland who posted a 19:39.54 to finish ninth. Gerland has now appeared in the top-10 in back-to-back weeks, joining Costantino as the only runners to do so.
Three runners also grabbed top-20 finishes for the Johnnies on Saturday as sophomore Jackie Gallagher (20:10.86, 11th), junior Shannon Page (20:52.86, 16th), and freshman Leah Rivers (21:03.79, 18th) all reached that mark. All three also set new personal bests on the day as well.
Senior Nicole McCarthy finished just a half minute out of the top-20, but did claim a new personal best with a 21:30.64 effort to place 24th.
The Johnnies were without one of their top runners, Melissa Hidalgo, as the senior was taking her LSAT on Saturday. Coach Hurt knew that it would make the meet tougher, but was proud of how his team stepped up in her absence.
"We knew it would be a tough task to defend without Hidalgo, who was taking the LSAT, but we gave it a very good shot putting four in the top 11," said Hurt. "Shannon Page and Leah Rivers did their best to be our fifth scorer."
St. John's continued to groom its middle-distance runners into shape as junior Torisha LaForce, junior Eboni Birch, sophomore Melissa Greaves, senior Danica Wens, and junior Lillith Ida all posted solid times.
"Our middle distance runners got in another cross country race which will help us as we get to the (Metropolitan) Championships next month," exclaimed Hurt. "We need to continue to get fitter and sharpen our racing skills as we prepare for the Paul Short meet in two weeks."
The Red Storm will be back in action in two weeks with a trip to Bethlehem, Pa. for the Paul Short Invite hosted by Lehigh University.
For all the latest news on the St. John's XC team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@StJohnsXCTF) on Twitter. You can join the conversation with #SJUXC. If you would like to be added to the St. John's XC mailing list, send an email to stjcommunications@stjohns.edu with the subject line "XC Mailing List."
Players Mentioned
