St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
St. John's University
St. John's Wins Big at 2018 Tom Farrell Classic
5/6/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
QUEENS, N.Y. - Opening a month filled with championship meets and high-end action, the St. John's track and field team hosted its lone event of the outdoor season on Saturday with the fifth annual Tom Farrell Classic at DaSilva Memorial Field.
The Johnnies finished the day with five event wins and multiple podium visits, hoping to round in full form prior to the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships next weekend in Ohio.
On a day when the Red Storm honored the ten members of its senior class, Maya Stephens fittingly became the first St. John's student-athlete to reach the top of the podium with a 12.14 finish in the 100-meter dash. Leah Anderson showed off the future of the program as the freshman continued her stellar rookie campaign with a second-place finish at 12.24 seconds while Denesha Ransome carded third at 12.39. The trio finished as the only three competitors to finish with times under 12.40 seconds.
Staying in the 100-meter dash, Destiny Davis, Kafi Ottley, and Torisha LaForce all posted top-10 marks, finishing sixth, eighth, and ninth respectively. The times mark St. John's competitors making up six of the top 10 places in the event.
Elizabeth Costantino netted the second gold medal honor for the Red Storm in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:39.56. The mark claimed the victory by nearly six seconds, edging out teammate Melissa Hidalgo who finished second in the event.
Winning her event by nearly four meters was Esmarelda Reyes in the women's javelin throw. The freshman's 40.59-meter throw finished as the lone toss to eclipse the 40-meter mark and defeated teammate Bernadette McGowan who finished second. Danica Wens just missed a podium visit in the event, finishing fourth with a 34.37 mark; while Nina D'Amato and Lillith Ida rounded out the top-10 with seventh and 10th place finishes.
It was another clean sweep at the top pair of spots at the podium in the women's long jump event as Erica Graham finished with top marks with a 6.11-meter jump. The senior's top hop came on her fourth attempt and was the lone competitor to finish over six meters. Anointing Onuoha finished second in the event with a 5.75-meter attempt. Jazmin Acosta and Winona Peace both recorded jumps over five meters to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
The final victory of the afternoon came in a clean sweep of the podium as Amarys Berry headlined a 1-2-3 finish in the women's shot put. Berry threw a 13.48-meter attempt on her final toss of the day to set a new meet record in the shot put. McGowan finished second with what would have been a new record to her name at 12.63 meters, and Nyla Woods completed the trifecta atop of the podium with a third-place mark of 12.40 meters. Eboni Birch added a fourth-place finish for the Johnnies with an 11.79-meter throw and Jennifer Odoemene came in sixth at 10.58 meters.
Antonia Howard reached the podium in the women's 1500-meter run with a new personal-best time of 4:42.20 to finish second. Stephanie Gerland and Therese Gallagher also cracked the top-10 for the Red Storm with fifth and sixth place marks.
Chenoa Sebastian placed third overall and second among collegiate runners in the 100-meter hurdles to lead a group of five St. John's student-athletes to top-10 finishes. Antonia Frazier (5th), Jariah McFadden (6th), Reyes (7th), and Ida (9th) all placed inside the top-10 for the Johnnies, with four of the five competitors finishing under 18 seconds.
In the 800-meter run, an event fittingly run on a day when Tom Farrell was honored for his bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics in the same race, Leah Rivers led St.John's with a fourth-place overall finish and second-place honors among collegiate runners. Birch and Melissa Greaves also finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to all finish under the 2:31.00 mark.
Remaining in the hurdles, Jasmine Burkett saw her meet record fall in the 400-meter race to an unattached runner, but the senior posted the top time among collegiate competitors with a 1:02.62 time. Sebastian and McFadden finished right behind their teammate to complete the podium sweep among attached runners; while LaForce posted a fifth-place finish among student-athletes.
Anderson also emerged as the top runner among collegiate entrants in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.34 to finish just tenths of a second behind the overall leaders. Davis, Ransome, and Ottley all finished 2-3-4 in the college division to complete another podium sweep for the Johnnies.
St. John's returns to action next weekend for the 2018 BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships beginning on May 11th. The meet will take place at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Players Mentioned
