St. John’s Readies for the BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships

Thursday, May 9

Villanova, Pa.

11:00 a.m.

St. John's University

BIG EAST Outdoor Championships

St. John’s Readies for the BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships

5/7/2024 2:59:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

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The Red Storm came in second place at the league championships last season

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's track & field team will head to Villanova, Pa., for the BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend at the Jumbo Elliott Track at Villanova Stadium.

The three-day meet will kick off on Thursday at 11 a.m., with the women's heptathlon 100-meter hurdles and will conclude on Saturday evening. Friday's slate will also begin at 11 a.m., followed by a noon start on Saturday.

All three days of competition will be streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports. Tickets for the BIG EAST Championships are available here.

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

Last year, the Johnnies finished in second place at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships for the first time in 34 years. The program racked up 132.5 total points across 22 events. UConn came in first place with 214.5 points.

Tatyana McKenzie was named the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Track Performer while she and Jamora Alves were both named the high point performers of the meet, each tallying 20 points apiece.

Alves will look to reclaim her high point crown as the sophomore currently holds second place in the BIG EAST in both the discus (50.24 meters) and the shot put (14.64 meters). Ismini Andreou currently holds fifth place in the BIG EAST in the hammer throw with a 51.06-meter launch.

Chinenye Onuorah is set to anchor the Red Storm in the 400-meter dash, as she leads the BIG EAST with a time of 54.28 seconds from the Hurricane Alumni Invitational. Nora Haugen is ready to impress in the 800-meter run after posting a personal-record finish of 2:05.59 at the Tom Farrell Classic last weekend. The sophomore's result placed her sixth in the conference.

Amarachukwu Obi, Delicia Bent and Brooklyn Chestnut will lead the charge for St. John's in the sprints. Obi holds the sixth-best 200-meter dash mark in the BIG EAST at 24.24. In the 100-meter dash, Bent, Chestnut and Cassandra Lemus-Sodji are all tied for seventh in the league with a mark of 11.92.

Pacing the way for the distance runners in the league championship will be Claire Cushing and Gabriella Caronia. Cushing will participate in the 5,000-meter run this weekend, after putting up a season-best mark of 17:21.06 at the Penn Relays. Caronia is set to race in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, coming into the championship 10^th in the conference with a result of 11:21.97.

The tandem of Lemus-Sodji and Fia Viklund have produced solid outdoor campaigns in the jumps heading into this weekend. Lemus-Sodji sits in fifth place following a 5.68-meter leap in the long jump at The Big Hurt. Viklund set a new personal-best mark of 11.62 meters in the triple jump last weekend to place 10^th in the BIG EAST.

Meghan Ladd, Colette Metcalf and Berit Friedenbach are all top-five in the BIG EAST standings in the pole vault heading into the conference championships. Ladd earned a fourth-place mark of 3.50 meters last weekend, while Metcalf and Friedenbach are both tied for fifth with 3.48-meter vaults.