St. John’s Places Second at the Metropolitan Indoor Championships

St. John's track and field at the Wagner Seahawk Shootout at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.

St. John’s Places Second at the Metropolitan Indoor Championships

1/30/2026 9:45:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

The Red Storm claimed seven individual titles and swept MVP honors

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The St. John's track and field team finished second overall at the 2026 Metropolitan Indoor Championships on Friday. The Red Storm claimed seven individual gold medals and one relay gold at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. The Johnnies had 20 point scorers across 16 events, en route to 174 team points. Monmouth claimed the women's title with 180.5 points.

Naiara Garcia-Moreno was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer, and Fia Viklund was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer. Both awards are named in memory of longtime LIU track and field head coach Simon Hodnett.

Garcia-Moreno won the 1,000-meter run in 2 minutes, 47.57 seconds. The time ranks fourth in program history and third on the Spanish U23 all-time list. The sophomore was also part of the Red Storm's silver medal-winning 4x800-meter relay.

Viklund won the triple jump on her final attempt. The senior used a 12.45-meter (40 feet, 10.25 inches) leap to take first and win the event by 20 centimeters (eight inches).

Senior Cassandra Lemus-Sodji shined for the Johnnies, winning both the 60-meter dash and the long jump. In the 60-meters, the Seattle native ran a season-best 7.68 seconds to tie for fifth in the BIG EAST. On the runway, Lemus-Sodji leapt 5.99 meters (19 feet, 7.75 inches) on her penultimate attempt to win the event. The mark ranks second in the conference behind teammate Linn Hertz Saebbo.

On the track, three other Johnnies took home gold medals. Jalen Jackson claimed the 200-meter title with a time of 24.88 seconds, good for fourth in the BIG EAST. Leilani Robinson won the 400-meters, crossing the line in 57.71 seconds. Nyla Henderson rounded out the individual titles after winning the 500-meters in a personal-best time of 1:14.92.

Hertz Saebbo recorded second-place finishes in both the long jump and triple jump. After jumping 5.98 meters (19 feet, 7.50 inches) in the long jump, the Swedish native posted a mark of 12.25 meters (40 feet, 2.25 inches) in the triple jump, which ranks sixth on the conference list.

Also claiming second were Ryana Dennis in the 400-meters and Attoya Harvey in the 800-meters.

All four Red Storm relays medaled, taking home two bronze, one silver and one gold. The distance medley relay of Mia-Sara Torres, Blessing Assoumany, Eileen Grenados and Cristina Stanescu took third, while the 4x200-meter relay of Ciara Wiltshire, Karese Clivesha Kezia Lloyd, Nia-Ruby Forbes-Agyepong and Lemus-Sodji also earned bronze.

The 4x800-meter group of Ana Dobsa, Robinson, Harvey and Garcia-Moreno claimed silver with a season-best time of 9:45.10. The 4x400-meter relay quartet of Djassi Dean, Dennis, Henderson and Jackson took home the title with a time of 3:48.65.

St. John's will send a 4x400-meter relay team to the 118th Millrose Games on Sunday. The quartet of Johnnies are slated to race in the College Women's DKC 4x400-meter Relay at 1:21 p.m.