This Week's Meet: NCAA Regionals

This week May 30 - 31 the STJ Track team will be represented in the NCAA for the 1th consecutive year by Big East 400 meter champion Maxcine Foster and All East High Jumper Priscilla Frederick.

To find schedules and results of the meet being hosted by Florida State, please click the following link: Regionals Details.

Active Alums: Vinny Insingo

This week found Vinny Insingo (Class of 1992) competing on Long Island at Jefferson Station in the Long Island Track and Field Development meet. Vinny won the discus with a throw of 52.94 meters (173'-8").

Next week Vinny will be competing in Widner, PA.

ECAC's

The ECAC Championship @ Princeton concluded the season for our full team and the future looks bright with 5 newcomers earning ALL-EAST honors. Freshman Priscilla Frederick continued her outstanding season taking 8th in the high jump and the 4 x 800m relay team of junior transfer Tyneka Green, sophomore Pam Petruski, in her first collegiate outdoor season, and freshmen Kim Piard, Sarah Sudbury clocked a season best 9:04.84 in the prelims. The finals the next day seemed to symbolize the entire 2008 season. As the rain poured down and with freshmen Shakira Best running in place of the injured Piard, the 4 x 800m pushed to an eighth place finish. Our young and inexperienced squad had fought off injury and illness, cold and wet weather, to compete with the best track & field athletes in the Eastern United States.

We will be sending Big East 400m champion Maxcine Foster and freshmen high jumper Priscilla Frederick to the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee, Florida the last weekend in May. Both have an excellent chance of placing in the top 5 to advance to the NCAA finals at Drake University the middle weekend of June. This marks the 18th consecutive year that St. John's has qualified athletes to the NCAA championships. Frederick is also qualified to the USA Junior Championships at Ohio Sate the third week of June. The top two finishers at the junior meet will make the USA National team that competes in the World Junior Championships in Poland in July.

Active Alums: Vinny Insingo

Vinny Insingo (Class of 1992) continued to perform well in his discus specialty this weekend at the Al Saner Track Meet in Point Pleasant, NJ. Vinny finished first with a mark of 54.20 meters (177'-10").

Active Alums: Dewayne Barrett 400 Meter Breakthrough

This weekend at Georgia Tech Invitational, Dewayne Barrett (Class of 2005) won his heat in a new PR 45.74. Looks like Dewayne is winding into form at just the right time to make the Jamaican national team for the Olympic Games. Full results can be found at the Georgia Tech site.

Alumni Thrower News at the New Balance Qualifying Challenge

Last week at the New Balance Qualifying Challenge at Icahn Stadium the STJ alumni throwers continued to be a dominating force in local Track and Field.

Vinny Insingo won the discus with a throw of 50.40 meters (165'-04"). Vinny will be competing in Point Pleasant in New Jersey this weekend. Grace Zollman finished second in the Javelin with a throw 46.75 meters (153'-04").

Open Thread: May 15th

Who will be the first to add a comment to our blog? Please use the comments link below to add thoughts, ideas or requests.

This Week's Meet: ECAC Championships

This weekend, we will be competing in ECACs at Princeton. The meet will take place on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 as detailed in the schedule. Directions can be found at the following link: Princeton Directions.

We will be running our relay teams: 4 x 100, 4 x 400, and 4 x 800. Priscilla Frederick and Venisa Clark-Lee will be going in the High Jump. Phobay Kutu-Akoi will be running in the 100 meters.

The Mysterious Cup

Does anyone know how this trophy ended up in the St John's University Track & Field Office?

A little internet research indicates that it originates from St John’s College in Oxford and not St John's University. The cup is dated Feb 1884.

Looks like the cup was awarded to L.W. Reed who ran Cross Country among other things at Oxford.

The cup is stamped D. Munsey Cambridge. It appears that the trophy maybe valuable given the following auction item also by the same silversmith.

Please add you comments below or email me at nuttym@stjohns.edu.

Open Thread May 7th

Your feedback is important to us. Please use the comments icon at the bottom of this post to tell us your thoughts, ideas etc.

This Week's Meet

This weekend, we will be competing in the New Balance NYC Qualifying Challenge at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island. The meet will take place on Friday evening and Saturday as detailed in the schedule. Directions can be found at the following link: Randall's Island Direction.

Big East Champs - 4x800

Villanova, PA - The Big East Champs treated the 4x800 team much better then the Penn Relays did a week earlier. The foursome of Tyneka Greene, Pamela Petruski, Sarah Sudbury and Shakira Best improved their season best by more then 14 seconds by running 9:05.81 for a 7th place finish. The mark also extended the season of the young relay by earning them a trip to the ECAC Championships in two weeks.

Tyneka Greene ran an awesome lead off leg by taking the race out in 63-64 through 400m. Tyneka ran a very aggressive race and set the tone for the entire relay with a 2:12.8 split handing off in 3rd place. Pamela Petruski ran a tough leg and split 2:14.8 which is her fastest split of her St. John's career. After the 2nd exchange between Petruski and Sarah Sudbury, we were in 5th place. Sudbury split 2:17.8 and kept us right in the pack fighting for 2nd place as Marquette was way out in front. Kim Piard was slated to run the anchor but due to illness we had to add our alternate, Freshman Shakira Best, to the anchor 20 mins before the gun went off. Shakira ran a gusty race for a 2:19.9 split and just got nipped the last 20 meters by South Florida.

We are looking forward to the challenge at the ECAC's at Princeton in two weeks. We are excited to get Kim back healthy and have our complete team crack the 9:00 barrier.

Maxcine "Beast" Foster Wins Big East Title (400m)

I have an opportunity to share the amazing journey of Senior Maxcine Foster better known as "Beast".

Three years ago Max sustained a severe hamstring pull which sidelined her for the entire outdoor season. We were able to redshirt her in order regain a year of eligibility. The following year, Maxcine had a phenomenal indoor season that culminated in a ECAC Championship and a season's best 400m (53.72) However, her ongoing isues with her hamstrings continued. At the Outdoor Metropolitan Championships, she strained her hamstring and had to sit out the 2007 Outdoor season. Maxcine struggled to overcome her hamstring issues which in turn had an affect on her mentally. Maxcine admits to doubting herself and her ability to complete an entire outdoor season as she would always face what seemed like a host of insurmountable obstacles. We began to rehab jointly with STJ's training staff and Dr. Gill Chimes in Greenwhich, Ct for a few months. After months of therapy Maxcine showed glimpses of her form to only be met with reoccuring hamstring issues.

The opportunity that has been presented to me as an assistant coach to prepare her physically & mentally. Although she has had many days & nights of constant tears, I knew in my heart that her struggles would end up in victory for her. With a limited amount of training due to the weakness/soreness in her hamstring we believed that her success would come from her heart. Maxcine wanted to win the Big East Championship more than her peers could imagine. In fact, after the semi final at the BE Championships, Maxcine approached me and said, "Coach don't worry, I will WIN"....This was after she failed to win her heat which would have guaranteed an automatic qualifier and a more preffered lane. I had to trust that she was going to deliver as she promised....

We all sat together in the stands as a TEAM (STJ) and cheering Maxcine to victory. She ran a phenomenal race and took over the lead in the last 50 meters of the race. She WON as she promised.....We are extremem;y proud of her, and we are excited to see what will happen at the Regional Meet in three weeks. Maxcine currently ranks 7th in the East region where the top 5 advance to NCAA's. Again, Max said, "Coach, I will make it to Nationals". Here again another promise......in three weeks I believe she will be on her way to the NCAA Championships representing St Johns University.

Congratulations Maxcine. We wish Maxcine well and it has been a great journey with her!!!

Coach Harrison

Big East at Villanova

The last time I was at a track meet at Villanova was in 1964 for the IC4As. So after 44 years I had forgotten what the place looked like. The most impressive sight was walking into a small gym next to the newly surfaced track, going through a doorway that had a sign pointing to the Pavillion that led to the Dupont Center (basketball arena and indoor track). As you walk in the narrow hallway there are many and I mean many Penn Relays trophies--too many to count--a very impressive sight. It seemed like it went on forever. They also have displayed at least 100+ All American Certificates--names like Ron Delany, Frank Budd, Charlie Jenkins, Paul Drayton, Don Bragg, Dave Patrick, Larry James etc. etc. etc. Also many XC and Indoor and Outdoor IC4A/ECAC trophies.

What I thought was a nice touch was a Wall Of Fame on the track recognizing the names of their best athletes over the years.

The Big East meet will probably be held at Villanova next year and for track and field fans a great place to visit.

Big East Outdoor Championships

After a 10 year absence the Big East Outdoor Track & Field Championship returned to Villanova where St. John's Maxcine Foster blistered the new track in 53.54 to win the 400m title. Her title is the 3rd in the last four years for a Red Storm 400m runner and the 6th overall in Big East history. Combining with Phobay Kutu-Akoi, Asia Davy, and Asia Nettles, Max split 53. on the Red Storm's 4 x 400m relay that took 8th place in a seasonal best and ECAC qualifying time of 3:46.06. Phobay earlier had led off the 4 x 100m relay staking St. John's to a lead andFreshmen Rene Cousins, Kate Dulmovits, and Priscilla Frederick carried the stick to a 47.69 clocking and 7th overall. Frederick followed her 4 x 100m anchor chores with 5th place in the High Jump leaping 1.75m - 5'8 1/2", another NCAA Qualifying mark for the Red Storm. Asia DAvy just missed making the final of the 400IH with a season best time of 63.06. Kutu-Akoi did not advance in the 100m with her 12:20 and Venisa-Clarke Lee cleared 1.60m but did not score.

The Big East Conference is one of the best track & field conference's in the country and the Red Storm rose to the competition in posting numerous seasonal and personal bests on the weekend.
With the weather warming so too are the St. John's performances so look for hot efforts in the weeks to come.

Alumnus: DeWayne Barrett in Kingston Jamaica Action

Alumnus, DeWayne was back in his native Jamaica following last weeks action in Penn Relays. DeWayne ran 47.10 for 6th place in the 400 meters at the Jamaica International.

The meet was higlighted by Usain Bolt's 100 meters where he recorded the second fastest time ever.

More News From Vinny Insingo

Got a call from Vinny Insingo this evening. Vinny demonstrates that discus throwers can continue to get better into their late 30s and early 40s. He's not saying which category he belongs too :-)

At Princeton's Elite Meet, Vinny, competing for Shore A.C., took first place in the discus with a throw of 54.28 meters (178'-01"). After the meet some of the throwers took an additional three throws, although the outcome was not recorded as part of the meet, Vinny exceeded 56 meters which surpasses his P.R.

Keeping my fingers crossed in the upcoming weeks so that Vinny's hard work will pay off in an Olympic Trials slot.