JAMAICA, N.Y. -- The St. Johns track and field team continued to have impressive performances by current and former student-athletes during the summer. In addition, the womens cross country team recently earned a prestigious national academic honor.

Michelle Hickman placed ninth at the USA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon with a jump of 41'7 1/2" recently. Hickmans outstanding finish at the USA Track & Field Championships closed out a year in which she earned top-10 showings at several major events. She placed seventh at the USA Indoor Championships and eighth in the NCAA outdoor championships. By being the third collegiate finisher at the USA outdoor, meet she now is eligible to be selected to the USA World University Games team that will compete in Beijing, China at the end of August. Final selections for the USA team will be made by July 18th.

SJU 5 & 10-kilometer record holder Chris Graff ('98) placed eighth in the 10,000-meter run at the USA Championships in Eugene. Thus, SJU track & field had two top-10 finishes at the outdoor USA championships.

Senior Jose Zayas won both the 1500-meter run and the 5,000-meter run at the Dominican Republic National Championships on June 23 & 24 in the Dominican Republic to become a two-time national champion. Zayas, who sat out the entire cross country and track seasons due to knee surgery, returns for all three seasons this coming academic year. He will represent the Dominican Republic at the Caribbean Games Championships in Guatemala later this month and also hopes to be selected to compete in the World University Games in China later this summer.

Finally, the women's Cross Country team has been named an ALL-AMERICAN ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Association. The team's 3.22 grade-point average ranked 67th of the 99 teams that qualified for the honor by having a 3.0 or better GPA. This is the first time the women's team has earned this distinction.