St. John's University Athletics
Women's Cross Country
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- mccreej@stjohns.edu
- Phone:
- 6158
John McCree returned to his alma mater in the Fall of 2014 to guide St. John’s storied throwing program. Since his arrival in Queens, McCree has helped elevate the Red Storm's throwers to new heights.
Since 2014, Coach McCree has helped lead St. John's throwers to national prominence. In his first six seasons, his student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Preliminaries on three occasions and won 8 BIG EAST individual titles, including three gold medals in the 20lb weight throw, a pair in the hammer and shot put and one discus title. In 2018 and 2019, his javelin throwers placed second in both the indoor and outdoor BIG EAST Championships. Under Coach McCree, 17 Red Storm throwers qualified for the ECAC Indoor Championships with 12 athletes earning Metropolitan titles in the hammer, weight throw, shot put, discus and javelin.
In the 2019-2020 indoor season the USTFFFCA Event Squad Rankings listed the Red Storm shot put team 30th and the weight throw squad 42nd in the country. St John’s throwers dominated at the Metropolitan Indoor Championships, helping the program capture its 35th Metropolitan title. At the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, Coach McCree had a combined eight athletes score in the shot put and eight throw. Seven throwers qualified and and two Johnnies scored in the shot put at the ECAC Championships.
In the 2018-19 season, Amarys Berry won both the indoor and outdoor shot put competition, hitting a personal best mark over 49 feet. Jennifer Odoemene won the BIG EAST discus title while taking second place in the hammer. Esmeralda Reyes added to the Johnnies point total with her runner up finish in the javelin. In all, the throw squad scored 71 points across four events. In May 2019, USTFFFCA NCAA Track & Field Division I Event Squad list ranked McCree's shot putters as 36th-best squad in the in the nation. St. John's throwers also ranked 45th in the javelin, 54th in the hammer and 59th in the discus.
From 2016-2019, St. John's throwers scored consistently across the BIG EAST, ECAC and Metropolitan Championships. At the the 2018 Metropolitan Outdoor Championships, Olivia Pantale (javelin), Amarys Berry (shot put) and Nyla Woods (hammer) each earned a first-place finish in their respective events.
During the 2015-16 campaign, Red Storm throwers completed a Weight Throw podium-sweep, taking first, second and third place at the 2016 BIG EAST Indoor Championships. The Johnnies also claimed the top-two spots at the 2016 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships in the Hammer. During the indoor championships, Nyla Woods, Ann Dagrin and Patricia Clark placed first, second and third in the weight throw while and Jenn Odoemene finished in fifth. At the outdoor championships, Woods and Dagrin took first and second in the hammer throw. The duo joined teammates Jennifer Odoemene on the All-BIG EAST Team with a second place finish in the discus.
McCree, a Newark, NJ, native, brings more than 45 years of coaching experience from both the collegiate and high school levels, including stints at Manhattan College, Queens College, New York Institute of Technology, St. Francis Prep and St. Anthony’s High School. He holds the rare coaching distinction of having worked with throwers that have achieved All-America status on the NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III levels. He has also coached several high school All-Americans in the hammer throw.
During his high school coaching career, McCree produced seven national champions; four in the weight throw, two in the hammer and one in the shot put. One of his athletes went on to become a Junior Pan Am champion in Brazil and a Junior World Champion in Poland, as well as a two-time Track & Field News “Athlete of the Year’ and set a number of US national class records in the HS weight throw 86’ 5.5” and hammer throw 255'11" along with a NY state record in the boys shot put at 68’ 11.75".
From 1996-2014, Coach McCree had athletes qualify for the high school national championships for 18 straight years. In 2013, seven of his athletes qualified for the national championships the weight throw. His hammer throwers won the Eastern State Championships 8 years in a row. His high school boys weight throw list shows 6 throwers between 66’ to 86’. A measure of his success and coaching longevity; one of McCree’s athletes broke the New York State mark in the high school hammer throw in 1979, and in 2007, another one of his throwers broke it again. A number of his former athletes are currently coaching the throwing events on the college high school levels.
As a student-athlete at St. John’s, McCree set school records in the hammer and weight throw, becoming the first in St. John’s program history to break the 200’ and 60’ barriers, respectively. The two-time team captain was nationally ranked and qualified for the Division I NCAA Championships all four of his years in Queens, winning a pair of Metropolitan Championships and Kansas Relays titles while also medaling at the Florida Relays, Penn Relays, Olympic Invitational and the prestigious Millrose Games. John was the recipient of three major University honors: Ernest Haberle Award for the top track & field performer, Dr. Peter Vitulli Award for the student-athlete that overcomes the most hardship, Lt. Frank Haggerty Award for the outstanding student-athlete at St. John’s University.
As a competitor in the hammer throw, shot put and discus at Essex Catholic High School in Newark, N.J., McCree was schooled in the throwing events by legendary coach Tony Naclerio, the 1996 U.S. Olympic throws coach. Under Naclerio, he broke the N.J. state record in the hammer, won the parochial N.J. state championship in the discus and was a member of the four-man shot put relay that set and still holds the national record of 231’8”.
McCree, who graduated from St. John’s with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, worked as a Federal Agent for over 21 years as a U.S. Postal Inspector, while coaching part time. He conducted criminal investigations concerning violations of Postal laws, working closely with US Attorneys office and other law enforcement agencies to successfully prosecute offenders. These investigations included theft, credit card fraud / identity theft, bank fraud, physical assaults, mail Bombs, workplace violence, armed robberies and burglaries. He served as president of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI), Eastern Chapter, a worldwide organization of law enforcement, financial institutions and retail security whose mission statement is to combat financial crime through training, networking and investigations.
He supervised a task force of US Postal Inspectors responsible for Workplace Violence issues for 65,000 employees and the millions of customers they encountered on a daily basis, analyzing daily incident reports of alleged physical assaults and/or credible threats between employees and customers. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he was assigned to NYPD headquarters and completed a mission with multiple agencies including NYPD, NYC Office of Emergency Management, FBI, State Department, and the US Army to re-establish mail delivery to hundreds of thousands of affected businesses and civilians in Manhattan. In addition he investigated the early New York Anthrax cases. He retired from government work in 2008.
McCree has been recognized and inducted into the Essex Catholic HS Hall of Fame, Bloomfield, N.J. Hall of Fame, and the Newark, N.J. Athletic Hall of Fame.
He currently resides in Seaford, NY, with his wife Mary.
Career Summary
His throwers achieved All-America status in NCAA Division I, II & III & high school in hammer throw
3 NCAA Qualifiers / 8 Big East Champions / 12 Met champions / 17 EACA qualifiers since 2014
4 year NCAA Qualifier / SJU Record Hammer & Weight / Haberle, Vitulli, & Haggerty Award winner
