St. John’s Gears Up for 2019 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships

Friday, February 22

Geneva, Ohio

St. John's University

BIG EAST Indoor Championships Day One

St. John’s Gears Up for 2019 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships

2/21/2019 10:59:00 AM | Women's Track and Field

Head Coach Jim Hurt’s 23 Johnnies look to improve third place finish from a season ago

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            QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 21, 2019) – Championship season is upon the St. John's track & field team as it gears up for the 2019 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, starting Friday, Feb. 22.

            Head Coach Jim Hurt has 23 Johnnies participating in Ohio this year hoping to improve upon their third place finish a season ago. The Red Storm holds conference-leading marks in six events, including the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash, 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay, triple jump and shot put.

            "We are looking forward to the BIG EAST Championship at the SPIRE Institute this weekend", Coach Hurt said. "Our team is having a great indoor season and is well prepared for the BIG EAST meet. Our sprints, jumps, & throws have posted conference leading performances and will lead our effort to challenge for the BIG EAST title."

            Sprinter Leah Anderson leads the charge for the Red Storm, possessing two individual BIG EAST-best times of 24.33 and 54.32 in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes, respectively. In addition to her conference-leading 400-meter sprint, Anderson currently ranks 44th in the nation in the event. The sophomore garnered two BIG EAST Track Athlete of the Week awards this season following her leading marks. The Mount Vernon, N.Y., native looks to bring the conference gold medals back to Queens for a Red Storm three-peat and surpass her third-place finishes from a year ago.

            St. John's sprinters have not lost at the indoor championships in the 200-meter dash since 2016 or in the 400-meter dash since 2014.

            Along with Anderson, Torisha LaForce, Skyy Diop and Kafi Ottley have clinched the top conference rank in the 4x400 meter relay with a 3:44.63 time posted at the 112th NYR Millrose Games. The relay quartet finished over three seconds faster than DePaul's four sprinters in the standings. The Red Storm squad has shaved off nearly 13 seconds since their first race at the TCNJ Lions Indoor Invitational on Jan. 12.

            The distance medley relay team also finished the regular season with the best time in the BIG EAST. Stephanie Gerland, Brianna Burkley, Shannon Page and Jackie Gallagher earned their spot in the conference meet by posting a time of 12:55.78 that edged out an Iona relay squad by 0.05 seconds at the METs.

            Much like her medley teammates at the Metropolitan Championships, Amarys Berry also paced the BIG EAST in the shot put, leading the pack with a distance of 14.52m. The Hackensack, N.J., native's conference-leading toss is also a personal best for the junior. Berry has also placed second or better in four events in 2019, including two gold medal performances.

            Alongside their junior counterpart, Samantha Morillo, Bernadette McGowan and Ashley Walsh will challenge each other for shot put title. The latter trio also competes in the weight throw on day one with Jennifer Odoemene, who leads the Johnnies with a toss of 18.18 meters. The senior thrower ranks third in the BIG EAST followed by McGowan in fourth after launching the 20-lb weight 17.00 meters.

            The conference meet opens with the pentathlon, featuring St. John's Eboni Birch and Antonia Frazier. Currently, the duo holds third- and fifth-best pentathlon scores in the BIG EAST with 3254 and 3146 points, respectively. Esmeralda Reyes and Melissa Greaves will also join the junior pair in the five-event competition.

            Day one concludes with the long jump trials and finals. Rookie sensation Ja'Tae Joyner is expected to compete in the event on Friday as well as the triple jump on Saturday where she has excelled in her first season with the Red Storm.

            The Bowie, Md., native owns the conference's best triple jump distance and ranks third in the long jump. The field star broke her triple jump personal record in three straight meets, setting her best mark of 12.11 meters at the METs and picking up her second career BIG EAST Field Athlete of the Week honor. Joyner will try to hop her way to the podium in her first BIG EAST Championship.

            Joining Joyner in the sand pit for both events will be Winona Peace and Amanda Belgrave with Antonia Frazier only competing in the long jump on Friday. Frazier will also participate in high jump on Saturday along with Esmeralda Reyes and Eleftheria Christogeorgou.

            Junior sprinter Destiny Davis sets her eyes on the 60-meter gold medal after finishing sixth overall in the BIG EAST. The Mobile, Ala., native recorded the best time of her career at the Bill Ward Invitational in December 2018 when she posted a second-place time of 7.87.

            Running the 800-meter dash for the Red Storm will be Shannon Page and Kayla Parker. The duo's season highlight came at the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge when both ran an identical career-best time of 2:26.62.

      The BIG EAST Indoor Championships is set to kick off at 9 a.m. on Friday with the pentathlon and day two reconvenes on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The entire conference meet will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FOX Sports Go.