Dec. 1, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y. - After a successful fall cross country season, St. John's is ready to launch into the indoor track & field season, sending three throwers and one pole vaulter to the Manhattan College Multi-event invitational on Saturday, Dec. 1. Freshmen throwers Courtney Kolinsky and Rachel Williams and senior Dominique Eason will represent the Red Storm in its first track and field meet of the season in Riverdale, N.Y. Eason finished top-12 in the 2007 Indoor ECAC Championships and is ready to make this season her best yet, stepping out of the shadow of graduated senior Tetee Kuyateh. "Eason is one of the top throwers in the BIG EAST so we're hoping she's going to step forward and keep the throwing tradition going," said head coach Jim Hurt. Kolinsky and Williams, both walk-ons add the depth that the Red Storm needs on the throwing side. Sophomore Brianna Drexler is looking to make history for the Red Storm by becoming the first-ever pole vaulter. Drexler's resume currently consists of sprints and hurdles. The Manhattan Multi-event invitational will serve as a way for the field athletes to "get their feet wet" according to Hurt. The official indoor season will kick off next Friday at the Fordham Opener at Fordham University in Bronx, N.Y. on Dec. 7. The indoor season will consists of a variety of competitive meets along the East Coast. Five consecutive meets will take place at the Red Storm's home arena, the 168th street Armory in New York City, including the Metropolitan Championships (Feb. 1), the New Balance Invitational (Feb. 8) and the BIG EAST Championships (Feb. 22).
"We have one of the best indoor facilities, the worldclass Armory, right here at our door, so it allows for us not to do a lot of traveling," said Hurt. "Our schedule allows us to compete at some of the best facilities the East Coast has to offer, competing against top level competition. We'll face BIG EAST schools on most weekends this season, so by the time we get to the BIG EAST Conference meet we'll have seen what we're up against and will have competed against other national class teams." The two away trips of the indoor season are the Yale Invite and the Penn State Open in mid-January. The Penn State Open on Jan. 19 will be the Red Storm's lone overnight trip which will give the underclassman an early chance to get some competition in before the spring semester starts again. Coming off the Penn State trip, St. John's will jump right into the breadth of its competition at the Armory starting with the Great Dane Invite on Jan. 25. Athletes from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Midwest will compete at the Penn State Open while the Red Storm will face runners from all over the country at the New Balance Invite in early February. Roster-wise, the Red Storm added a lot of depth from 2006 which will be important in the championship meets. St. John's remains strong in the short sprints with juniors Phobay Kutu-Akoi and Paula Rennalls establishing themselves as the early point scorers. Hurt is looking for Kate Dulmovits a freshman from West Islip, N.Y. and walk-on Shavone Williams, a graduate of William Cullen Bryant High School to add to the depth. Dulmovits earned a lot of high school honors while Williams is noted as the first student to honor the St. John's NYC After School All-Stars Program Scholarship. The sophomore-Asia's, Asia Nettles and Asia Davy will be holding down the mid-sprints, as they are joined by freshmen Vanessa Thompson and Rene Cousins. Recent walk-on Lauren Winter will also add depth to the 400-meter and 500-meter group. Senior Maxcine Foster, last season's top middle sprinter will be out for the indoor season and will return in the spring for her final season of eligibility. The middle-distance group is greatly improved from year's past with the successes of the cross country season. All the cross country runners will return for the indoor season and will compete in the 5K events and 800-meter events on the indoor track. In addition to the cross country group, freshman Kim Piard, who was second in the New York State Championships in the 800-meter run, and classmates Shakira Best and Ashlee Payne will add new legs to the mix. In the jumps, the Red Storm returns graduate student Kellie Brown, the most experienced veteran on the squad. Brown holds a 2007 NCAA Regional appearance in the triple jump under her belt and is looking to qualify again in 2008. Sophomore Fayanne Francis, along with Brown, makes for a great "one-two punch" according to Hurt, as she represented the Red Storm at the USA Track & Field Junior Nationals last June. Newcomers Bintou Dibba and Priscilla Frederick add youth and talent to the mix as well. In the hurdles, junior Marie Griffiths has been looking promising at practice and Hurt will be looking for her to take an increased role in the scoring. Junior Venisa Clarke-Lee and Frederick make for a nice combination in the vertical jumps as Clarke-Lee is one of the best high jumpers in the Western Hemisphere and Frederick was the top performer in the 2007 Nike Meet of Champions. In addition to the new talent and depth to the 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relays, the Red Storm will also be adding back the distance-medley relay to its event-card. With the added flexibility and talent of so many long-distance and middle-distance runners Hurt sees the Red Storm finishing strong in the relays in each meet. "On a whole we're a much deeper team," said Hurt. "We've got a great group of freshmen who have all improved a lot from the summer and fall. We also have great upper classmen who provide great leadership to the team. It's a long year ahead of us but we have a lot to accomplish before the winter break."
Cross Country Recap The team finished 15th out of 25 teams at the ECAC Championships, defeating local teams such as Hofstra and Sacred Heart as well as Adelphi, Fairfield, Seton Hall and Temple. "It was a big step forward team-wise. We defeated teams that had beaten us earlier in the year which was an important accomplishment for us as a program," said Hurt. The Red Storm also competed in key meets such as the National Catholic Invitational at University of Notre Dame, a 6K race for all the Catholic universities and colleges in the United States; the Metropolitan Champions, the BIG EAST Championships in Louisville, Ky., and the NCAA Northeast Regional Qualifying meet in Franklin Park, Mass. The freshmen and sophomores stepped it up for the Red Storm as freshmen Sarah Sudbury and Lori Dougherty finished second or third in most of the fall's meets. Sudbury earned the second best overall times in the 4K, 5K and 6K races for the Red Storm. Sophomores Pam Petruski and Sarah Fry were also key point scorers for St. John's. Petruski earned the third best time at the Metropolitan Championships on Oct. 5 and both sophomores finished in the top five running group for the Red Storm at every meet. "From a coach's point of view, because we had such a young group who showed significant progress in the fall season, I'm excited for the indoor season and for next year when we have so many returners."
Get Women's Cross Country and Track & Field News For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John's cross country and track & field please visit www.RedStormSports.com or call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM. |
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