Anderson Shines at Rutgers Open

Friday, February 11

New York, N.Y. (The Armory)

St. John's University

Rutgers Invitational

Photo by: Ariana Celifarco/The Armory

2/12/2022 7:43:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Results

St. John’s tallied 10 top-five finishes at The Armory

By: Alex Whisnant

NEW YORK- The St. John's track and field team captured four wins and 10 top-five finishes at the Rutgers Open on Saturday afternoon at The Armory. The Red Storm battled against top teams from the northeast region, including BIG EAST foes Connecticut and Villanova.

Leah Anderson continued her run of dominance in the 2021-22 season, sweeping all three individual events she competed in and collecting another win as part of the 4x400-meter relay team. The current school indoor recordholder in the 200-meter, 300-meter and 400-meter races added another record to the list by setting the a new all-time program best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.37. Anderson surpassed the time of 7.42 set by Shernette Hyatt-Davis back in 2004. The Mount Vernon, N.Y., native added victories in the 200-meter (23.44) and 400-meter (53.71) dashes to cap off a stellar individual day.

Anderson teamed up with Skyy Diop, Tatyana McKenzie and Avon Samuels to capture first-place in the 4x400-meter relay for the second time this season. The quartet's time of 3:38.42 ranks as the top time in the BIG EAST and 34^th in the nation. The four sprinters also took home second place in the 4x200-meter dash with a time of 1:38.95, finishing less than .70 seconds behind Rutgers' top team.

Diop also enjoyed a strong day individually on the track. The senior posted her best time of the season in the 400-meter dash at 55.12 seconds, good for fourth place. The Ontario, Canada native added a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.81.

In the field events, Amanda Belgrave notched her fourth top-five finish of the season in the long jump with a bounding leap of 5.47 meters. The senior also competed in the triple jump, finishing in eighth place with 11.52 meters. Meanwhile, Lasma Padedze led the way for the Red Storm throwers, grabbing a fourth place finish in the shot put with a toss of 13.24 meters.

St. John's will return to action on Friday, Feb. 25 when it travels to Chicago to battle against the best in the conference at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships.