April 1, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - Fans, faculty, staff and members of the St. John's Athletics Department gathered to dine in the University Center on the Queens campus and talk spring sports with Red Storm coaches at the inaugural Spring Coaches Luncheon.

The luncheon featured speeches by the six head coaches of the spring sports: head lacrosse coach Jason Miller, head softball coach Amy Kvilhaug, head track & field coach Jim Hurt, head men's golf coach Frank Darby, head baseball coach Ed Blankmeyer and head men's tennis coach Eric Rebhuhn. Each coach spoke of their triumphs thus far and the challenges ahead in the remainder of the season. The coaches took the opportunity to express their gratitude to the academic and athletic community for their continued support of their respective programs.

Director of Athletics Chris Monasch made the opening remarks, introduced the coaches and discussed program highlights.

"Today was a great opportunity for our spring coaches to discuss the terrific successes their programs are having," said Monasch. "It was an excellent forum to share those successes with the greater University Community."

Each coach brought selected student-athletes to attend the luncheon. Representing the lacrosse team were seniors Chris DeMarco and and Ryan Parker. Senior Keegan Bradley and sophmore Mike Ballo Jr. were in attendance for the men's golf team, while freshman Kacee Cox and senior Bionka King represented the softball team. Representing the baseball team were seniors Jeff Grantham and George Brown. The men's tennis team was represented by junior Artem Vlasenko and from the track & field team were seniors Maxcine Foster and Dominique Eason.

"We have a great group of people working here in the athletic department, but at the end of the day, if we don't have the right people coaching, we aren't going to get the job done," said Monasch. "When I got here three years ago, one of the things I was most impressed with was the group of coaches that St. John's had in place."