St. John’s to Vie for the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship

Friday, May 10

Icahn Stadium

St. John's University

Big East Outdoor Championships

St. John’s to Vie for the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship

5/9/2019 6:29:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Live Results Heat Sheets (PDF)Watch on CaffeineTV Schedule (PDF)

The Johnnies will look to improve upon their fourth-place finish from 2018

By: Dylan Smith

QUEENS, N.Y. (May 9, 2019) – The St. John's track and field team will vie for the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship this weekend at Icahn Stadium, beginning on Friday at 10 a.m.

            The two-day championship meet will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network on CaffeineTV. Live results will be available throughout the weekend on RandallsIsland.org.

            The Johnnies will look to improve upon their fourth-place finish from 2018. The Red Storm is coming off of a solid weekend at the Tom Farrell Classic, racking up six first-place finishes and three podium sweeps. Four different throwers won an event at DaSilva Memorial Field.

            Jennifer Odoemene enters the conference meet following a strong hammer throw performance at The Farrell, posting a distance of 54.44 meters to win the event. Amarys Berry and Samantha Morillo also joined Odoemene on the podium to sweep the first event with distances of 43.03 and 42.78 meters, respectively. The Johnnies' trio ranks inside the BIG EAST top-10 for the hammer, placing fourth, ninth and tenth, respectively, with fellow teammate Ashley Walsh sandwiched in between in sixth.

            Morillo heads to Icahn Stadium with her first win as a Johnnie, launching the discus 41.75 meters to take the top spot. With her throw, the freshman moved into fifth among conference competitors heading into the weekend.

            Berry and Esmeralda Reyes picked up victories in the shot put and javelin, respectively. Berry broke the meet record with a 14.28-meter shot put toss to secure first place. The Hackensack, N.J., native will look to sweep both BIG EAST shot put medals after she won gold at the indoor championship. She currently ranks second in the league with a 14.63-meter mark.

            Sophomore Reyes will look to set personal bests for the second straight-season at BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. The New Milford, N.J., native is slated to compete in both the heptathlon and the javelin after she broke her personal records last year. Reyes' best javelin throw of the season came at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships, recording a distance of 43.65 meters to sit third in the conference.

            Reyes will also compete in the heptathlon alongside her teammate Eboni Birch. The seven-event competition will kick off on Friday beginning with the 100 meter hurdles at 10:10 a.m. The pair's last competition came at the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships when Birch took home first place and Reyes captured second.

            Leah Anderson will look to fill former teammate Maya Stephens' shoes in the 400 meter dash. The sophomore sprinter crossed the finish line in second behind the current Canadian World Relays runner with a 54.10 time to become the only underclassman to reach the podium in the event.

            The Mount Vernon, N.Y., native already broke one of Stephens' records this past weekend, knocking off the international sprinter's 24.12-second 200 meter dash at the Tom Farrell Classic. Destiny Davis sprinted across the finish line just after Anderson to score a second-place time of 24.36.

            Anderson, Kafi Ottley, Skyy Diop, and Chenoa Sebastian will compete in the 4x400 meter relay on Saturday. The Johnnies' foursome leads the BIG EAST pack with a time of 3:43.19 set at the Stanford Invitational on March 29. Along with the 4x400 meter, Head Coach Jim Hurt will send Ja'Tae Joyner, Davis, Diop and Anderson to Icahn Stadium to bring a set of gold medals back to St. John's. The 4x100 squad also holds the best time in the conference, posting a 46.12-second time at the historic Penn Relays on April 25.

            Mid-distance runners will also compete for BIG EAST gold as Therese Gallagher and Nicole McCarthy are slated for the 10,000 meter run on Friday evening. Jackie Gallagher is expected to race in the 1,500 meter run on day one before she joins her sister Therese, Stephanie Gerland and Shannon Page on Saturday for the 4x800 meter relay.

            Competition kicks off on Friday morning as Odoemene and company look to bring the gold medal back to Queens in hammer throw, beginning at 10 a.m.