St. John’s Competes at the Dr. Sander Invitational

Thursday, January 24

New York, NY

St. John's University

Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge

St. John’s Competes at the Dr. Sander Invitational

1/26/2019 5:28:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

The Red Storm finished in 15th at the second annual event

            NEW YORK (Jan. 26, 2019) – Competing against the top competitors the NCAA has to offer, St. John's track & field team finished its weekend in 15th place at the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge.

            St. John's earned 12 points across three days at the New Balance Track and Field Armory. Ohio State secured first place with 74 points, followed by Duke and BIG EAST foe Villanova with 67.5 and 59 points, respectively.

          Eboni Birch and Antonia Frazier competed in the pentathlon on Thursday evening, finishing in sixth and seventh overall, respectively. Birch earned 3239 points and a first-place finish in the shot put with a personal-best distance of 12.22m. Frazier racked up 3146 points and also saw her highest finish in the pentathlon shot put with a throw of 10.98m, good for fourth place.

          Triple jumper Ja'Tae Joyner leaped a career-best 12.06m on her first attempt Saturday. The freshman's seventh-place distance at Manhattan's prestigious indoor track facility sits atop the BIG EAST leaderboard and 11th among ECAC competitors this season.

            Amarys Berry led all Red Storm throwers on Friday and Saturday, earning ninth place in the shot put with a throw of 14.06m. Junior weight thrower Bernadette McGowan added a 10th-place finish for St. John's with a distance of 16.12m at The Armory. Behind McGowan followed Ashley Walsh in 12th place and Jennifer Odoemene in 13th throwing 16.08m and 16.05m, respectively, among 31 participants in the weight throw.

            "Our ladies hung tough with some of the top programs in the NCAA," said assistant coach John McCree. "It was a good tune-up for us heading into the Metropolitan Championships next week."

            St. John's 4x400m relay team – Leah Anderson, Skyy Diop, Torisha LaForce and Kafi Ottley – sprinted a time of 3:47.06 to edge out both UCLA (3:47.83) and BYU (3:47.98) by less than a second for sixth place.

            The Red Storm will return to action at Staten Island's Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex for the Metropolitan Championships on Friday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.