St. John’s Travels to Chicago for The BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships

Friday, February 23

Chicago, Ill.

St. John's University

BIG EAST Indoor Championships

St. John’s Travels to Chicago for The BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships

2/22/2024 10:37:00 AM | Women's Track and Field

Schedule Watch (FloSports)

The Red Storm placed fifth in the indoor conference championships last season

QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 22, 2024) – The St. John's track & field team will head to Chicago on Friday and Saturday for the BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championships. The conference championships will kick off at noon on Friday inside the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center.

The two-day meet will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports starting at noon on both Friday and Saturday.

The Red Storm will look to extend its streak of finishing fifth or better for the 10^th consecutive season this weekend.

Last year the Johnnies took home fifth place in the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, racking up 83 total points. UConn claimed first place with 169 points, followed by DePaul (111), Georgetown (99) and Villanova (89).

Tatyana McKenzie was named the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Track Performer and the High Point Performer of the Meet in 2023. McKenzie grabbed a win in the 200-meter and set a personal record time of 55.14 seconds in the 400-meter dash.

Amarachukwu Obi and Delicia Bent lead the way for St. John's in the sprint competitions. In the 200-meter dash, Obi currently holds the BIG EAST leading mark of 24.23 seconds. Bent sits second in the conference in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash with times of 7.54 seconds and 24.29 seconds, respectively.

Chinenye Onourah will anchor the Johnnies in the 400-meter, as she leads the BIG EAST with a 55.27-second result from the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.

Nora Haugen and Nia Holden are the Red Storm's leaders in the 800-meter run. Haugen's best time of 2:11.80 sits 11^th in the BIG EAST while Holden's 2:13.31 result placed her 16^th in the league.

Claire Cushing holds the squad's leading time in the 5000-meter run, registering a program record 17:02.94 time. The graduate student's mark sits her at 13^th in the conference entering the championships.

St. John's has also excelled in the 4x400-meter relay this season as its team of Brooklyn Chestnut, Kara Sampath, Zamira Ysaac and Sophia Leslie lead the BIG EAST with a 3:39.41 finishing time.

Freshman Ruth Smith is poised to make an impact in her first BIG EAST Indoor Championship appearance. Smith is tied for eighth in the conference in the high jump with a leap of 5.3 meters. Cassandra Lemus-Sodji has excelled in the long jump as her 5.57-meter result from the Villanova Invitational is good enough for sixth in the league.

Meghan Ladd, Colette Metcalf and Berit Friedenbach are all top seven in the BIG EAST standings in the pole vault, heading into the conference title meet. Ladd's program-best mark of 3.75 meters leads the conference while Metcalf and Friedenbach's 3.50-meter and 3.45-meter results sit sixth and seventh, respectively.

Jamora Alves headlines the Johnnies' throwers that will compete in Chicago. The sophomore has produced a second-place heave of 14.51 meters in the shot put and is 10^th in the conference in the weight throw. Ismini Andreou placed fifth in the BIG EAST with a 17.04-meter launch in the weight throw.