The St. John’s cross country team finished ninth place over all on Saturday at the Big East Championships in Ohio, hosted by Xavier. Along with that, the team achieved five new personal best times.
According to the press release, Head coach Jim Hurt said, “Our ladies came to run today, which resulted in some great personal-best performances. They started off quick and stayed strong throughout the entire race.”
Since the last Big East Championships, the Red Storm improved by 26 points with a team total of 245. Right below them was Seton Hall who placed 10th and St. John’s held them off with more than 75 points and around a minute for their overall average time.
Izzi Batt-Doyle, sophomore, Stephanie Van Pelt, senior, and Antonia Howard, freshman, did it yet again by finishing strong as the top three St. John’s runner of the meet. Many personal records were broken especially for Batt-Doyle who finished with a time of 20:49 for her first 6k of this season according to the press release.
Howard also ran her first 6k for her St. John’s career finishing the race with 22:14as she took 62nd place overall. Stephanie Van Pelt kept up wither her fellow teammate Batt-Doyle as she came in 42nd place with a new personal best tie of 21:28.
This day was consisted with a lot of hard work, as new records for times were broke. Tiffany Evanego, senior, took a time of 22:57 under her belt as she crossed the finish line taking 74th place. Evangeo and Marlow Schulz, sophomore, ran side by side, as Schulz took 75th place with a time of 22:59. Schulz did an amazing job for her first 6k ever in her career and only her third race for St. John’s.
Since last year at the 2014 Big East Championships, Melissa Hildago, sophomore, beat her last 6k time with 24:19 after placing 83rd. Shannon Page, freshman, was not too far behind as she came right after with 84th overall in her best-personal time of 24:56. Finishing up the team effort was Veronica Thompson, senior, who finished her race in 88th place along with a time of 25:46.
Although the Red Storm did not place in the top 5, their amazing hard work truly paid off as the runners came out with personal records. Providence came in 1st overall alongside Georgetown who placed runner-up. Their next meet will be on November 14th in Massachusetts at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships.
