Friends and Alumni Reception Feb 21, 2009

On Feb 21 Friends and Alumni of St John's track gathered at the Armory during the first day of the Indoor Big East Championships. More then 30 alums and friends of the program attended.

A class member from each decade was respresented from the 1950's to the 2000's.

Some pictures of the event can be found at: STJ Big East Reception.

The group was joined by STJ team and staff. Our current team members were pleasantly surprised by the timespan represented by the alums and enjoyed mixing with the different generations.

Indoor Big East 2009 Roundup

For the second year in a row, the Indoor Big East was held at the Armory in Washington Heights, New York City.

Our young team showed significant improvement from last year when we finished in the basement - 16th out of 16 teams. This year we moved up to 11th scoring a total of 21 points. For a full break out of scoring you can visit the STJ RedStorm site: Big East Complete Results. The site also provides an excellent review of the meet: Big East Recap

The team was led by Graduate student Arina Gerasimova who racked up 10 points in taking the Triple Jump title while battling a sore achilles. Arina showed her consistency by jumping a season best of 12.36 m (40' 6 3/4") twice during the competition and had a marginal foul of a longer jump on her last attempt.

Sophomore Priscilla Frederick scored 8 points in 2 events. Competing in her 2nd Pentathlon, Frederick finished 7th scoring 3,557 points. The competition was stiff as evidenced by the fact that the first 6 finishers all achieved NCAA provisional qualifiers. Subsequently 3 of these athletes went on to compete in the NCAA Pentathlon. After a draining five event first day, the completion for Priscilla wasn't any easier in the High Jump where she finished third with a jump of 1.78m (5'-10"). The first 3 jumpers all achieved the same height, placement was decided on countback.

Senior Phobay Kutu-Akoi rounded out the team scoring by finishing 6th and scoring 3 points in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.55 seconds. In addition Phobay also made the 200 meter final running a PR of 24.55 seconds in the prelims.

Our team also recorded season bests in both the 4 x 400 meters and 4 x 800 meters of 3:52.31 and 9:10.93 respectively.

Why We Need Your Help: This Is Not Your Daddy's Big East

The Big East conference was founded in 1979, many readers of this blog did not have the pleasure of competing in the Big East, but for those who did, the Big East bares scant resemblance to the conference that began in 1979.

In 1984 I competed in my first indoor Big East championships in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Back then the conference was made up of a total of nine teams. Today we now have 16 teams filled with teams who are highly comepetitive on the national level! For those who are interested in the evolution of the conference you can visit the Big East Wikipedia page

How has the conference changed in the past 30 years? Well now you have to qualify just to compete in the conference and the standards aren't easy. Try and remember what your PRs were and see if you could have qualified, never mind scoring. Visit the Big East Qualification Standards

So what's the point of this post? Well we need your help to be come more competitive. This past November, Tom Farrell has graciously agreed to lend his name to a $100,000 fund raising effort. Times aren't easy right now, so your support is graciously appreciated.

If you'd like to contribute, please feel free to contact Coach Hurt at the Track Office in St John's:

Email: hurtj@stjohns.edu

Tel: 718-9906159

We won't say no to checks made out to St John's University and mailed to:

St John's University

Attn: Track Office

8000 Utopia Parkway

Jamaica, NY 11439

St John's Big East Track & Field Reception

St. John’s Track and Field Alumni and Friends Reception

at the

2009 Big East Indoor Track and Field Championships

Come join former track and field teammates and current friends of the program and cheer on the 2009 Red Storm team as they compete in the Big East Championships at the Armory in New York City

When:
Reception: Saturday Feb 21, 2009 ----5:00pm
Meet Starts: 8:00 AM
Meet Ends: 6:00 PM

Where:
Armory Track and Field Center 216 Fort Washington Ave(one block west of Broadway between 168th and 169th streets in Manhattan) New York, NY (Our reception will be held in the HOSPITALITY ROOM on the Balcony Level of the Arena across from the main concessions stand)

Cost:
A minimum $25 donation to the St. John’s Track and Field Program is suggested to help defray the costs of the reception. (Please note that the Armory is also charging a separate meet entrance fee of $15).

Directions / Parking:
Please visit http://www.armorytrack.com/ for specific driving directions and parking information for the Armory Track and Field Center.

RSVP:
Please RSVP (required) by February 17 to Martin Nutty at nuttym@stjohns.edu or 917-415-1718.

Spread the Word:
If you are in touch with your former teammates, please forward this message to them. We look forward to building an alumni/friends network and running three events per year which will correspond with the Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track Seasons.

St John's University Women's Track & Field Team News:
To get the latest news on the STJ track team, please visit the women's track and field team home page at redstormsports.com. In addition, if you would like to receive current women's cross country and track and field news delivered straight to your own e-mail address, send an e-mail to Kristin Duffy at stjcommunications@stjohns.edu with "XC-TF E-mail" as the subject.

Further Questions:
If you have any questions about the event, please contact Martin Nutty at nuttym@stjohns.edu or 917-415-1718.