First Meet of the New Year: Saturday Jan 10

The first meet of the new year will be held at Yale's Coxe Cage on Saturday January 10th.

If you want to come and cheer the team on you can get to Coxe Cage using these directions.

Stop by and say hello to the team

The full schedle can be found at the Red Storm Track Schedule.

Saturday, December 27: STJ Facebook Track Alumni Get Together

The STJ Facebook Track Alumni will be holding their annual holiday get together. Details as follows:

Time: Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 7:00pm

Location: Stout - NYC
133 West 33rd Street,
New York, NY

Results of the First 2 Meets of the Year

December is a strange time of year for a collegiate Track & Field athlete. Days are getting shorter, weather colder, academic load heavier and holiday distractions greater. It's a tough time of year to begin a season.

Fortunately our young team are showing early promise and a return for all the hard work they've put in over the Fall.

On December 1, Manhattan College played host, to their annual meet, held on the first possible day of the season. We had 2 athletes in action: junior Brianna Drexler and freshman Chanel King. Brianna and Chanel collected 3 second places finishes to set a great starting tone to the season. Full details of the meet can be found at the RedStorm website at: Manhattan Opener

On December 5th the full team debuted at Fordham. STJ's sophomore Priscilla Frederick led the team with a Big East and ECAC qualifier in the cramped high jump area in the Fordham field house. The jumps squad also generated another Big East qualifier with Junior Fayanne Francis in the Long Jump. Full details of STJs 6 wins can be found at: Fordham Opener meet report.

Indoor Track Season Begins: 2008 - 2009

Cross country season is over and now without a break, the indoor track season begins. The first meet will be held tomorrow in Manhattan College in Riverdale. Full details of the track season schedule can be foud at: STJ Track Season Schedule.

If you have some free time, drop by and say hello to the team and enjoy some Track and Field. You can contact me for anymore details at nuttym@stjohns.edu

Facebook Alumni Group

I'll admit it, despite my grey hair I enjoy Facebook, its a good place to network. Recently a new group for STJ Track Alums has been founded by Andrew Janosick. You can visit the group at the following link: St. Johns University Track & Field & X-Country Alumni

Cross Country Season Draws to A Close at the ECAC

Last weekend the STJ Cross Country season draw to a close at Van Cortlandt Park with senior Tyneka Greene leading the STJ team in her final cross country run for the Red Storm. Full details of the race can be found at the Red Strom site at: St. John's Earns Team Top 10 Finish At ECAC Cross

Latest Cross Country News

The Cross Country Season is drawing to a close and our young team has shown improvement in each meet over the past year.

Individual reports can be found on the Red Storm site as follows:

1. 10/19/2008 St John's Fall Festival
2. 10/31/2008 Big East Championships
3. 11/15/2008 NCAA North East Regional

Next up and the last meet of the season is the ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Saturday 11/22/208

Tom Farrell Night November 17

Thanks to all who came to Tom Farell Night. We had a total of 83 attendees with St John's and Archbishop Molloy grads in addition to members of the Track and Field community.

More details on the night in addition to the photo gallery can be found at: Tom Farrell Night

Tom has graciously agreed to lend his name to our fund raising efforts for the track program by lending his name in establishing the Tom Farrell fund. More details to follow.

Looking forward to seeing everybody at the Big East tentatively scheduled for Saturday Feb 21 at the Armory.

Cross Country Update: The Mets

The St John's Ladies team are continuing to show improvement with a quality performance at this years Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park

Please visit the Redstorm Website for Mets Race Report.

Full results can be found at the following link: Mets Results

The RedStorm website recently profiled freshman Sabine Schneider who hails from Bad Driburg, Germany.

Next Sunday, October 19, the team will be competing at our own Fall Festival for more details on all the events please select the follwing link: Fall Festival Details

St John's Cross Country Fall Festival

The cross country season has arrived and with it our first Friends Event at the St John's Cross Country Fall Festival. Details are as follows:

Head Cross Country and Track Coach Jim Hurt
Invites you to the St. John’s Fall Festival

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Schedule of Events:
Location: Cunningham Park

1. 9:30am One mile fun run/walk to benefit the fight against breast cancer
2. 10:00am Women’s 4K race
3. 10:30am Men’s 5K race

Location: St. John’s Campus

12:00 Noon Brunch Reception
University Center, Storm Center
*Please see campus map*

Featuring Rich Torrellas, USA Track and Field, Women’s Head Manager for 2008 Olympic Games

$20 per person

*Please RSVP by October 13, 2008*

Mary Pat Beirne at 718-990-1873 or beirnem@stjohns.edu

This is a good opportunity to see our team, meet up with former team mates, visit the STJ campus, support a great charity and have a good time.

If you're feeling energetic and would like to participate in one of the running events, please contact Coach Hurt at hurtj@stjohns.edu specifying which event you want to run in.

Early Season Cross Country Reports

Our young team has show great progress with each outing:

1. September 6th at Hofstra
2. September 19 National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame
3. September 27 at Fairfield Invitational

Our next meet will be the Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Friday, Oct 10, 1:30 PM. Directions to the meet can be found at the following link: Van Cortlandt Park Directions

St John's Track Alums Meet Interesting People

You never know who you'll come across at the Olympics

But then if you're Rich Torellas (Class of 72) the manager of USA Women's Track and Field team, you're sure to cross paths with some interesting people

2008 XC Preview

Hello to all, hope the summer treated you kindly. I also hope that our cross country got in their must needed miles over the summer to allow them to make a nice jump at both the local and Big East levels. Our staff is excited to return every member of last year's cross country squad and to combine this group with 3 incoming distance freshman.

Our top returner is senior, Tyneka Greene, who is entered her second season as captain. Tyneka was our top runner at every meet last fall and hopes to improve on her 19:16 PR at Van Courtlandt as well as her 77th place at Big East. Tyneka led off our Big East and ECAC scoring 4x800m relay numerous times last season with 2:12's splits. Add her 800m speed to her solid summer base and good things should happen.

Our other returning upperclassmen include Rakibat Abiola (Sr.), Pamela Petruski (Jr.), and Sarah Fry (Jr.). Petruski was also a member of the All-East 4x800m squad.

Returning sophomores include Sarah Sudbury, Lori Dougherty, Shakira Best, Katrina Schaefer, Laura Walsh, and Kayla Regulski. Sudbury is the top frosh returing out of Tomahawk, WI. Sudbury was second runner all last season as well as being a member of the All-East 4x800m.

Our rookie class includes three top prospects from New England and overseas. Aryon Trujillo hails from Pinkerton Academy (NH) and Nicole Cocozza from LaSalle Academy (RI) join us from top high school powerhouse. Sabine Schneider is over here from Germany which adds to our already international team.

We are excited to have everyone back from last season and the depth from our new freshman recruiting class will go along way in our development in the distance events and cross country.
We open up at the Hofsta Invitational on September 6th, 2008. We travel to Coach Hurt's Alma mater, Notre Dame, on September 19th, 22008 for the National Catholic Champs.

Calling Members of the 1984 - 1985 Team

Do you remember what you looked like in 1984? I find my picture to be more then a little embarrassing in the 1984 - 1985 media guide.

For those that want to peruse other years, you can get a listing of what we currently have online at the Friends of St John's Track and Field Archive.

Would You Like to Blog?

Blogging is as easy as writing an email, so if you'd like to get involved in posting stories about St John's, former team mates, Track and Field in general or the current team, let me know.

All you'll need to do is set up an email account on gmail.com and I'll be glad to enable you to start posting. Just drop me a note at the email address below.

I'm especially interested in those that would like to track down former team members and provide updates since their days at St John's

If you're technically shy, I'll walk you through putting up your first post. I have years as a software trainer so I can speak fluent geek and put it in human terms

Martin Nutty: nuttym@stjohns.edu

STJ at the Olympics

STJ continues a long history of representation at Olympic Track and Field with Rich Torellas (class of 1972). Rich emailed Coach Hurt with the pictures to the left on July 29th. He'd already been in Beijing for a week at that point!

Rich's local newspaper published a nice article on Rich's responsibilities during the games in the New Haven Register: Torrellas an invaluable part of U.S. track contingent

Rich threw the Hammer when attended STJ back in the 70s and has travelled an interesting road to become the Head Manager of USA Women's Track and Field at the 2008 games He was selected for the position 2 years ago and we wish him and the team well in the upcoming week and look forward to hearing his stories when he is back in the USA.

STJ's First Olympian

Beth Zebuth (class of 1985) came up with the right answer: Connie Stoll a member of 2 Olympic Teams in Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne in 1956. I've had some nice exchanges with Connie over the past year and asked her to give more detail on her career. I think you'll find her detailed response below interesting:

Dear Martin,

There were lots of great experiences from my participation in the games,but the more significant ones were getting there. Women's track and field in the U.S. was pretty much "downplayed". The support by the AAU was minimal and the attitude was that woman were unable to handle the training regimen .(obviously a man's opinion!!) I think that Babe Dedrickson was some unusual person. I really believe that many of the track meets were self supported or single donations and the men were the first priority.

I was born in Greenpoint , Brooklyn N.Y. Nov. 10,1934. I began running as part of the Police Athletic League at 12. I was preparing to compete in the City Championships and went to the local park with my Dad and fortunately met a man who was coaching a few girls,ranging from 15-24 (10 girls). He was sponsored by the the German American A.C. from Bronxville N.Y. The head of the A.C. was on th Board of thr AAU and wanted to see woman track and field succeed.....that is how it started. I was fortunate again that my coach was an expert in hurdles. I had the speed,but probably would not make it as a top sprinter,thus the hurdles. As a member of a small team,whenever there was a track meet,few and far between,we would compete in as many as 5 events each against much larger teams.

In July 1952 (just after graduating from Bishop McDonnell Mem. H.S.) I went to the Olympic tryouts in Pa. The criteria for making the team: win your event and do a time that was set by the Committee. I ran the 80m hurdles, won the event and ran 11.8 ,(one tenth off the American record). AS a result of the tryouts the team selected was just 10 women. I was the only U.S. entrant in the hurdles (my only claim to fame) I did not equal my 11.8 ,I did 12.1. It did not qualify me for the semis. The woman's relay team surprised all by winning the gold. (I was there to cheer them on)

I entered St. John"sTeachers College in the fall of 1952. I continued to train,held apart/full time job,and went to classes 6 days a week. I graduated in May of 1956. There were no Woman's track teams in Colleges,except Tennessee State &Tuskeegee Alabama. I competed in tryouts for the 1956 games in August and left for Melbourne in October.

This time the AAU and Olympic Committee had more donations and they allowed 3 entrants in each event. Again I made it in the hurdles, and again in a good time,but in the games I was timed in 12.1. The winning time was 11.4

The entire experience of being a part of such a special event is sometimes unbelievable to me. I have many great memories and memorabelia to remind me of what it was all about.
It wasn't until the 60's that woman were finally recognized as "able" and teams started to form especially in schools.

I am now visiting in Indiana with my brother Vincent(Darnowski) who competed for St. John's in the field events in the 50's. My brother Michael (Darnowski) also competed for St. John's and was a team manager. Unfortunately Michael passed away a year ago. Michael was very instrumental in having me placed in the St.John's Hall of Fame in 1993.

The reason you did not hear my name in your question about the first Olympian from St.Johns is probably that I did not compete for St.Johns,and probably that I did not get a medal. Al-so-rans don't get publicity. I hope you got Pete Close's name as well as Tom Farrell.

I will close now......If you would like more info I can write again or even better still be a presenter to your girls team to let them know how fortunate they are to have finantial help to attend school and compete for St.Johns

Constance(Connie) Darnowski Stoll school of Ed '56 U.S.A. '52,'56

St John's Alums Compete in the Olympic Trials

Both Grace Zollman (Class of 2006) and DeWayne Barrett (class of 2005) competing in the USA and Jamaican Olympic trials as reported on the St John's Track and Field website. Both have made tremendous strides this season and continue to impress with their pursuit of excellence.

Priscilla Frederick Finishes Up a Great Season

On Saturday June 21 Priscilla Frederick finished up her stand out freshman season by competing in the High Jump in the USA National Junior Championships in the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Columbus Ohio. Priscilla finished fifth in the nation as reported on the RedStormSports Track and Field site.

Congratulations to Priscilla and we look forward to great success next year.

Who is the First St John's Track & Field Olympian?

Can you name the first St John's Track & Field Olympian? Extra points if you can specify the games. Post your answer by using the comments button below.

Grace Zollman Continues Impressive Season

Grace Zollman (Class of 2006) competed twice this past week.

Grace started out on Saturday June 14 with a throw of 49.35 meters (161'-10") in the Louie Anthony Williams Memorial at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island. A solid performance despite suffering from a sore arm.

On Wednesday June 18 Grace folowed up with another solid performance at the Empire State Games Trials also at Icahn Stadium. Grace produced a throw of 48.35 meters (158'-7") despite beinf initially rained out during warm-ups and then just getting 3 throws after 1hr delay.

Next week Grace may compete in Mac Championships meet at Icahn on Sunday with an eye on sharpening her performance for the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon on June 28.

Vin Insingo Sets 2008 Season Best

Last weekend Vin Insingo (Class of 1992) competed in the USATF New Jersey Open & Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Vin finished in first place with a season best throw of 55.32 meters (181'-6"). Vin's throw is three feet off his lifetime best!!

Vin plans on competing this Sunday at the Metropolitan Championships on Randall's Island.

Priscilla Frederick 12th in NCAA High Jump

Last night Priscilla Frederick finished 12th in the NCAA High Jump concluding a higly successful collegiate freshmen season. Priscilla tied her season best with a 1.77 meters (5'-9 3/4") clearence. Elizabeth Patterson a sophomore from Arizona won the event with a clearance of 1.86 meters (6'-1 /4") . A full report can be be found on the Red Storm Track & Field pages.

Priscilla will now focus on qualifying for the World Junior champions to be held in Bydgoszcz, Poland to be held July 8 - 13.

Priscilla Frederick Freshman High Jumper Advances to NCAA Final

Priscilla Frederick showed her steel again when advancing from the qualification round to the final 16 in the High Jump yesterday at the Des Moines NCAA finals as reported on the Red Storm Track and Field page. Priscilla made a 3rd attempt clearance of 1.77 meters (5'-9 3/4") to make the final. Her jump tied her seasonal best set in a jump off at the Tallahassee NCAA Regionals 2 weeks ago.

The outstanding performance comes on the tail of a miserable rain delayed trip to Iowa. USA Today gives some sense of the problems experienced for the teams participating in Des Moines.

Priscilla will be competing in the final on Friday.

High Jumper Priscilla Frederick Competing at NCAA Finals

The collegiate Track and Field season draws to a climax with the NCAA finals being held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa beginning on Wednesday June 11. A full schedule of events can be found at the Drake University website at the following link: schedule.

St John's will be represented by freshman High Jumper Priscilla Frederick. Priscilla will be competing in the preliminaries in her specialty on Wednesday at 4 PM local time with the final to be held on Friday at 4:45 per the NCAA schedule.

Priscilla comes into the meet with a personal record of 1.77 meters (5'-9 3/4"). During the 2007-2008 season, the talented freshman has shown her versatility and team spirit by competing in the High Jump, Triple Jump, 100 hurdles, 200 meters, shot put and anchored the STJ 4 x 100 relay.

Hot Weekend for Alum Throwers

With the mercury soaring to 90+ degrees this past weekend, the STJ Alum throwers keep on looking for that perfect performance.

Vin Insingo (Class of 1992) competed at both the New Jersey International in Holmdel, NJ on Saturday and the Island Games held at Mitchel Field, Uniondale, Long Island on Sunday. Given the weather conditions Vin produced creditable performances in both meets winning the former and finishing second in the latter. Vin exceeded 50 meters in both meets. Next week Vin will be competing down in Monmouth, New Jersey.

Grace Zollman (Class of 2006) defied the tough conditions to throw 48.14 meters at New Jersey International in Holmdel, NJ. While not Grace's best throw of the season, it was her best throw off grass ever. Since many facilities do not have a center field with a Javelin runway, Javelin throwers are often relegated to throwing off grass which is a sub optimal situation. Grace will be competing at the Louie Anthony Williams memorial at Icahn stadium on Randall's Island this weekend.

Calling For Captains

In Order to expand the reach of the Friends group I'd like to get a group of captains who will maintain communication with fellow Friends based on the periods they attended St John's or alternatively for non grads their affiliation with the Track & Field program.

I want to divide the Alumni base up into the following groups:

1. 1950s
2. 1960 - 1964
3. 1965 - 1969
4. 1970 - 1974
5. 1975 - 1979
6. 1980 - 1984
7. 1985 - 1989
8. 1990 - 1994
9. 1995 - 1999
10. 2000 - 2004
11. 2005 - 2009

Other Friends:

1. Friends who are not graduates of St John's
2. Parents of St John's athletes that want to follow the program

Captains will notify their group of:

• Upcoming events
• Track down lost Friends

If you are interested in becoming a captain or would like to know more, please send me an email at nuttym@stjohns.edu or call me at 917-415-1718

First Quarterly Friends of STJ Track & Field Meeting

On Thursday June 5th the first Friends of St John's Track & Field meeting was held in Carnesecca arena. In attendance:

• Joe Carpenter - class of 62
• Tom Celandine - class of 62
• Martin Nutty - class of 88
• Ed Joyce - class of 59
• Bill Boyle - STJ Prof of Philosophy

Topics Discussed:

1. Review of Track season and upcoming season
   
2. Proposed annual events: Fall Festival, Big East Indoor, Reebok Grand Prix outdoor. These events correspond to the Cross Country, Indoor, Outdoor track schedule
   
3. Tom Farrell Nite: Scheduled for November 12th. The function will serve 2 purposes: a) Honor Tom's achievements on the Track 40 years after his medal in the Mexico Olympic Games and to raise money for the Track and Field program. Target money being raised is 40k. The event will consist of a presentation and Q & A on Tom's career and a reception afterwards. Please be sure to Mark your calendar for the big night.
   
4. Website and email communication process

The meetings are designed for Friends to:

• Get together
• Get an update on the STJ Track & field program
• Have fun along with drinks and food
• Be less then 2 hours

The next meeting will be held on Saturday September 13th. We will alternate each meeting with a weekday night night and weekend day.

Friends at the Reebok Grand Prix May 31

On Saturday May 31 a group of Friends of St John's Track & Field went to Ichan Stadium to watch New York's only world class outdoor Track and Field meet. The meet exceeded expectations and was capped with a world record in the 100 meters by Usain Bolt.

In addition to the 100 meter world record there was also an American all comers record set by Paul Koech of Kenya in the 3000 meters steeple chase of 8:01.85

As the 100 meters was underway Jenn Stuczynski was making three solid attempt at the women's Pole Vault world record. Earlier in the evening Jamaica also laid cliam to the women's 100 meter dash with a world leading time by Veronica Campbell Brown of 10.91

For a full list of the results visit the Reebok Grand Prix: results page

Mark your calendar for next year as we will be there again.

In Attendance:

• George Leidinger
• Steve Conroy
• Bill Boyle
• Tom Farrell
• Martin Nutty
• Alex Long
• Joe DeVito
• Tom O'Connor
• Dennis Carmody

Active Alumni Throwers

Grace Zollman (Class of 2006) and Vin Insingo (class of 1992) competed at the Mid-Atlantic USATF 2008 Open Outdoor Championships at Widener University in Chester, PA on Saturday May 31.

Grace broke through the 50 meter mark for the second time in the javelin this season with a throw of 50.09 meters. Vin had a more subdued day in the discus with a throw of 50.78 meters. I wish my subdued days were close to where he is at :-).

Vin will be competing next week at the NJ international at Holmdel NJ on Saturday and the Island Games on Sunday at Mitchell Athletic complex. With the right kind of wind, look for Vin to break through his season best of 54.28 meters set in Princeton. Vin continues to be ranked number one in the country in the 35 - 40 Masters Age Group.

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.

Open Thread April 30th

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Still Active Alumni: Discus Thrower Vinny Insingo (1992)

Vinny Insingo class of 1992 competed at the TCNJ Lion’s Invitational on 4/26 and took first place with a mark of 51.10 meters (167'-8") in the discus. Vinny will be competing this weekend at Princeton.

Vinny has a season best of 52.94 meters (173'-8") at College of New Jersey Lion's Invitational on April 27. Vinny is the number one ranked thrower in the USA in 35+ age group in the Master's Discus.

Memorable day at Penn

Most of you will remember Dave Patrick--Villanova miler from the 60s.
Last Friday I attended a cocktail reception hosted by Dave for Villanova Alums. He put together a slide presentation featuring former V greats including Larry James, Erv Hall, Don Bragg and many more Olympic, National, and NCAA champions. It was an amazing presentation with action photos of these great athletes over many years. It concluded with a video of the 1968 Penn relays Championship 4 X 4---with Larry James, "The Mighty Burner" anchoring in 43.9---fastest time ever recorded by a collegian. He made a 45 second runner from Rice look like he was running in mud.
But the real highlight of the evening was a wrong that was corrected. In 1968 there were 2 Olympic trials--one in LA in June and the Final trials in September at Lake Tahoe.
They told us that the winner in LA was guaranteed a spot on the team--provided he maintain his fitness at the final trials in September. Patrick won in LA but finished 4 at Tahoe. 3 make the team. It was decided to leave Patrick off the team even thought he did demonstrate fitness and it was a devastating blow to one of our best 1500 meter runners of alltime. Good things do happen, better late than never and a USATand F high up and Payton Jordan, Head Coach of the 68 Team came to the reception to make an announcement elevating Dave from an alternate and non member of the team to the status of a true OLYMPIAN with all rights and privileges of a member of the 1968 Olympic team. Other 68 members including John Carlos, Norm Tate, Erv, Larry and myself were ther to dry Dave's tears.
This weekend is the the Big East championships at Villanova--if you can come and cheer.
May 31 is the Grand Prix at Randells Island lets us know if you want tickets--great price, great competion.

Torch Article: Maxcine Foster 400 Meter Standout

The Torch, St John's student newspaper puplished an article about Maxcine Foster recently. Read all about it here: To the Max: Foster is the 'beast of the east'

Penn Relays & Yale Invite Review

St. John's completed a great track & field weekend with Priscilla Frederick placing second in the collegiate High Jump at Penn Relay's at Franklin Field in Philadelphia with a 5'7" leap and alumnus DeWayne Barrett anchoring Jamaica's national 4 x 400m team against Jeremy Wariner in a blazing 45.25. The women's 4 x 800m was moving up well when the baton got bumped from Tyneka Greene's grasp with 200m to go on the opening leg. After a few bounces Greene was able to recover the baton but the pack had moved well up the track. Quality efforts by Pam Petruski, Kim Piard, and Sarah Sudbury could not make up ground over the 2nd, 3rd, and fourth legs.

On Sunday the Red Storm drove north to Yale University in New Haven where, despite cool weather and threatening skies, Maxcine Foster cruised to victory in the 400m and Phobay Kutu-Akoi exploded to win the 100m with a Big East and ECAC qualifying mark of 12.13. Frosh Bintou Dibba took second in the long jump and Tyneka Greene did likewise in the 800m. Asia Davy and Vanessa Thompson both scored in the 400 Hurdles and Kayla Reguliski recorded a PR in the 1500m. Frosh Rene Cousins scored in both the 400m and 200m and thrower Dominique Eason posted PR's in both the Hammer and Discus.

The Relays and Yale should set up the Red Storm for the Big East Championships at Villanova this coming weekend. Fourteen STJ athletes will contest for Big East titles in the 100, 400, 400IH, High Jump, 4 x 100m, 4 x 400m, and 4 x 800m.

Middle Distance - Penn Relays

The 2008 Penn Relays proved to be another great meet with records crowds. Our young 4x8 team comprised of junior Tyeneka Greene (NY), sophomore Pamela Petruski (NJ) and Freshman Kim Piard (NY) and Sarah Sudbury (WI) had a rude awakening to the crowds both in the stands and on the track. The young foursome ran a slow 9:27.25 due to a baton incident on the third turn of the lead off leg which put the team in a 80m hole. Tyneka Green was making a nice move until another runner bumped her arm and knocked the baton loose. Major credit is due for Tyneka picking up the baton and still finishing strong as well as the other three legs running their hearts out to catch up to the pack.

The middle distance future is bright and the race at Penn still gained the young ladies good experience at a high level meet. It was the first time at "The Relays" for freshman Sudbury who is from Tomahawk, WI. Tomahawk has one traffic light, so The Penn Relays was a true carnival for the Midwestern rookie.

The 4x8 has a chance to redeem themselves this weekend at the Big East Champs. More to come.........

The Throws at the Yale Springtime Invitational

Cool conditions prevailed at the Yale Springtime Invitational. Despite the weather, the STJ throws group continued to show improvement and promise.

Dominique Eason finished 8th in the Hammer with a PR throw of 44.94 meters (147'-05""). Her throw was a scant eight inchs from a Big East qualifier. Dominque followed up with another PR in the Discus with a 10th place finish of 32.49 meters (106'-07").

Rachel Williams continued to show good form in the shot while finishing 6th with a throw of 11.34 meters (37'-02 1/2"). Rachel also placed 10th in Javelin with 27.27 meters (89'-06") and 17th in the Hammer with 32.99 meters (108'-03").

Full results can be accessed at Yale Springtime Invitational

Yale Meet Details - Sunday April 27

Meet Details

Field events start at 10 AM and the track events begin at noon

Meet Directions to Cuyler Field/Dwyer Track next to Yale Field

From Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways:
Take Exit 57 (Route 34 East) directly to the Yale fields, or take Exit 59 (Whalley Avenue) and follow Yale Bowl Signs to the Yale Fields.

From I-95:
Take Eastbound Exit 44 or Westbound Exit 45 to Route 10 and follow Yale Bowl signs. Or, take Exit 47 (Downtown) and follow Route 34 to the Yale fields.

From Downtown New Haven:
Go north on Chapel Street, then turn left on Derby Avenue (Route34) to the fields. From I-91: Take Exit 1 (Downtown) and follow Route 34 to the Yale fields.

Schedule

FIELD EVENTS:

10:00AM (01)Discus Men (130’), followed by (02) Discus Women (115’).

Following discus men,(03) Hammer Men (145’), then (04) Hammer Women (115’).

10:00 (05)Long Jump men (21’), followed by (06) women (16’6), then Triple Jump (07) men (43’), followed

by (08) Triple Jump women (34’).

11:30 (09)Shotput Men (45’), followed by (10) Shotput Women (36’).

11:00 (11)Pole Vault women (9’6), followed by (12) Pole Vault men (13-6).

12:00 PM (13)High Jump men (6-2), followed by (14)High Jump women (4-10).

1:00 (15)Javelin Throw women (115’), followed by (16) Javelin Throw men (150’).

RUNNING EVENTS:

(17) 400 Meter Relay - women (28) 100 Meter Dash - men

(18) 400 Meter Relay - men (29) 800 Meter Run - women

(19) 3000 Meter Steeplechase - women (30) 800 Meter Run - men

(20) 3000 Meter Steeplechase - men (31) 400 Meter Hurdles - women

(21) 1500 Meter Run - women (32) 400 Meter Hurdles - men

(22) 1500 Meter Run - men (33) 200 Meter Dash - women

(25) 400 Meter Dash - women (36) 5000 Meter Run - men

(26) 400 Meter Dash - men (37) 1600 Meter Relay - women

(27) 100 Meter Dash - women (38) 1600 Meter Relay -me

For the Geeky Set

If you have an RSS feed reader and would like to add a feed of any new blog posts to the reader from this site, just paste in the following URL feed into your reader: http://friendsofstjohnstrackandfield.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

For those reading this who think this is pure nerd talk but are still curious, you can use this functionality so that new posts on the blog are automatically picked up a personalized web page such as MyYahoo.

If none of this makes sense, please feel free to comment below :-)

Regards

I've Added Advertising

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Open Thread

We need your feedback on what you'd like to see in terms of services from the Friends of St John's Track and Field (FSTJTF). Maybe you hate the acronym!!

At the bottom of this post you'll see a link called comments. Please feel free to submit ideas, comments. thoughts, musings etc.....

Alumna Grace Zollman Olympic Trials Qualifier

On Saturday, Grace Zollman graduate 2007 threw a PR of 51.06 meters (167'-6")at the New York relays on Randall's Island. The throw is a B standard for the Olympic trials which will be held in Eugene. Grace needs to throw 54.50 meters (178'-9 1/2") to achieve the A standard an assure herself of a place in the trials.

The Throws at the Mets

Yesterday proved to be an excellent day for STJ track at the Mets. The team finished first with a total of 158 points to second place finished Fordham with 144. The STJ throwers produced of total of 32 points.

Rachel Williams finished 3rd in the shot put and javelin, 4th in the discus and seventh in the hammer scoring a total of 19 points. Rachel recorded PRs in 3 of her 4 events with 35.31 (115'-10") meters in the discus, 37.97 meters (124'-6") in the hammer, 11.45 meters (37'-6 1/2") in the shot and 31.77 meters (104'-2 3/4")in the Javelin. A strong tail wind in the javelin was probably a deterrent to Rachel in producing one more PR in her final event of the day

Dominique Eason produced 10 points in her events finishing 4th hammer inn the hammer with a throw of 42.92 meters (140'-9 3/4"), 6th in the discus with a season best of 30.81 meters (101'-1")and 7th in the shot with a throw of 10.37 meters (34'-0 3/4").

Priscilla Frederick was a welcome addition to the throws team. Priscilla is STJ's standout high jumper who looks like she has the potentional to be a talented monthly events athlete. Priscilla finished 6th in the shot put with a throw of 10.69 meters (35'-0 3/4") to score 3 points.

Full Results of the Mets can be found at Direct Athletics at the following link: Mets Results

Metropolitan Championships

The intercollegiate Metropolitan Championships will be held tomorrow, Saturday April 18th at the Palisades Park Regional Sportsplex. The weather looks good, so come out and cheer on the team and meet old friends. The meet starts at 10 AM tomorrow. Please find directions below:

Directions to Palisades Park Regional Sportsplex
From Route 4 West:

1. Grand Avenue exit south towards Leonia/Palisades Park.
2. Follow Grand Avenue for approximately 2 miles and turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
3. Follow Roosevelt Avenue to the end.

From I-95 South:

1. Exit 68 (same as NJ Turnpike)
2. At light, make left following signs for U-TurnAt light on Fort Lee road make a left
3. Follow over the Turnpike to Grand Avenue and turn right on to Grand Avenue.
4. Follow Grand Avenue for approximately 2 miles and turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
   Follow Roosevelt Avenue to the end.

From Route 80 East:

1. East on Route 80 to Route 95 NorthExit 70, Leonia
2. Follow ramp onto Fort Lee Road
3. Follow Fort Lee Road to Grand Avenue and turn right on to Grand Avenue.
4. Follow Grand Avenue for approximately 2 miles and turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
5. Follow Roosevelt Avenue to the end.

Martin

Opening Post

Welcome to the St John's Track & Field blog. The blog will provide periodic updates on the St John's Track & Field team and program from the five coaches currently involved in the program:

• James Hurt - Head Coach
• Yvonne Harrison - Assistant Coach
• John Honerkamp - Assistant Coach
• Tom Farrell - Volunteer Coach
• Martin Nutty - Volunteer Coach

We look forward to your comments.

Martin Nutty