The St. John’s women’s track team had a successful weekend at the Larry Ellis and Georgia Tech invites. Head coach Jim Hurt sent 11 student-athletes to the Georgia Tech Invite in Atlanta.
Sophomore Maya Stephens was the best sprinter for St. John’s as she finished in second place in two individual events. She ran a solid and personal best time of 11.79 seconds in the 100-meter dash. In her second race, she completed the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.21 seconds.
Stephens was also able to record a first-place overall finish when she ran the second leg of the 4X400-meter relay team.
In another competition, graduates Pariis Garcia and Claire Mooney excelled in their races reaching second and third place, respectively. Garcia came In at 52.86 seconds and Mooney finished in 53.17 seconds, which were personal bests.
“Our 4X400 meter relay team showed they can win anywhere,” coach Hurt said. “We are gearing up for the Penn Relays next weekend and we will build off the momentum from the stellar performances from the three events this weekend.”
Sophomore Jasmine Burkett followed with a personal best time of 1:00:16 in the 400-meter hurdles, which earned her fifth place.
Hurt also sent student-athletes Stephanie Van Pelt and Marlow Schulz to run at the Larry Ellis Invite in Princeton, New Jersey. Senior, Van Pelt, broke a school record in her 800-meter run competition. Van Pelt’s time of 2:06:81 set a new school record and broke the record just set a week prior by Mooney. Van Pelt’s time led her to eighth place in the event and she currently ranks 31st in NCAA Division I.
St. John’s also attended the Wolfe Invitational at Stony Brook University. The Red Storm were able to reach fifth place with 54 total points. Freshman Antonia Howard and Jennifer Odoemene did well in their events with Howard competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Odoemene in the discus throw.
Howard, who had a breakout season during the fall, finished with a time of 11:10.56. This time was 30 seconds faster than the second place Fordham runner-up. Odoemene reached first place in the discus with a score of 40.25 meters and fifth place in the shot put competition with a throw of 11.06 meters.
