The St. John’s women’s track & field started off as front-runners at the two-day 2016 Metropolitan Indoor Championships as they conquered four of the top-eight spots in the pentathlon. The Red Storm came in on top on Thursday, but settled for runners-up to Rutgers on Friday as the final for 2016 ‘Mets.’
The Red Storm were looking to defend their title from last year’s championship meet, and with the help from freshman Eboni Birch and sophomores Julia Schwan, Jasmine Burkett and Danica Wens, they were able to. As they all placed third, fourth, fifth and eighth in the five-events they were all in for that day’s competition.
Schwan finished as the top athlete of the day with total earned points of 3,081, and had even ended with a 1.55-meters mark in the high jump. Second to Schwan, Birch came home with a 4th place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a 9.46 second mark and overall points of 2,960.
As for the long jump, Burkett ended with a total of 2,880 points for fifth-overall and recorded a 5.17-meter mark and a 2:19.86 in the 800-meter dash. To wrap up the first day at the ‘Mets,’ Wens came in 8th place with a 10.91-meter toss in shot put.
As for day two on Friday, the Johnnies took second place to finish off the ‘Mets’ with personal bests records in Staten Island. There were seven individual titles and 12 top-three performances taken from the meet.
Sprinters Maya Stephens and Stephanie Van Pelt both started off and gained two individual titles. Stephens got first place, crossing the finish line in the 60-meter dash with an ECAC-qualifying time of 7.58 seconds, according to the press release.
On top of that, Stephens accomplished another victory with her her new PR of 24.46 seconds in the 200-meter dash, which happens to be the 3rd fastest time in school history. Also in the 200-meter dash, both Shenika King and Claire Mooney came in 5th and 6th place. Mooney also took 1st place in the 500-meter that makes her qualified for ECAC, since she finished two seconds faster than anyone else that day.
Van Pelt also took two titles home in the 1,000-meter and one-mile run along with a qualifying time to ECAC. She came in first with a time of 2:48 in the 1,000-meter and second place in the one-mile with a time of 4:50.73.
As for the 400-meter dash, senior Raquel Ricketts came in first place with an ECAC-qualifying time of 56.11 seconds; along with this, she helped the Red Storm take 2nd place with a time of 3:45.27.
Along with Ricketts, Jasmine Burkett also qualified for ECAC with a time of 56.89, which landed her fifth place. For the throwing events such as the weight throw, sophomore Nyla Woods tossed 19.36-meters on her 5th and final throw of the event. She also gained a personal-best, qualifying as the 5th best throw in St. John’s history and 34th-best in Division I. She also placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.40-meters.
