Feb. 11, 2008

Complete Results

QUEENS, N.Y. - Sophomore Asia Nettles earned the Red Storm track & field team's last BIG EAST qualifying time at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational held at the Armory on Feb. 8-9.

St. John's will head to the conference championships in two weeks with ten individual qualifiers competing in twelve individual events and three relays. Nettles finished 54th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.07 seconds, her best time in the event this season. Also marking season-best times in the event were sophomore Asia Davy and freshman Rene Cousins. Shaving 1.43 seconds off her previous time in the event, Davy also ran a time of 58.54 seconds, finishing 68th overall. Cousins finished 72nd, clocking in at 58.71.

Freshman Priscilla Frederick continued to make high marks for St. John's in the high jump. Frederick finished fourth in the New Balance High Jump Championship event with another ECAC qualifying height of 1.74 meters (5 feet, 8.50 inches). The Red Storm freshman faced some of the top competitors from around the country losing out to Toni Aluko from University of Maryland, Patience Coleman from University of North Carolina and Desirae Gonder from Cal State-Northridge.

The 4x400-meter relay squad of Nettles, Davy, Cousins and freshman Ashlee Payne was runner-up in the 400-meter relay New York division. The team ran a time of 3:55.14, finishing behind Columbia's foursome who crossed the tape at 3:49.90.

Junior Tyneka Greene ran a top-15 finish as she placed 15th in the 1,000-meter run championship division, clocking in at 3:01.32. Freshman Sarah Sudbury also ran in the event, finishing 26th with a season-best time of 3:04.30. Junior Rakibat Abiola finished 34th at 3:17.66.

Senior Kellie Brown earned a top-25 finish in the long jump college division event with a distance of 5.45 meters (17 feet, 10.75 inches). Junior Marie Griffiths tied her season-best distance in the same event, finishing 57th at 4.88 meters (16 feet, 0.25 inches). Freshman Bintou Dibba's distance of 4.96 meters (16 feet, 3.25 inches) was good for a 53rd place finish.

Payne also competed in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:18.85, good for a 28th place finish. Freshman Shakira Best ran the 800-meter run, finishing 53rd with a time of 2:22.47, and freshman Rachel Williams finished 40th in the weight throw event with a distance of 11.92 meters (39 feet, 1.25 inches).

St. John's also ran the fantastic foursome of Sudbury, Cousins, Payne and Greene in the Distance Medley Relay. Mixing up the order a bit from previous races, the squad finished 10th with a season-best time of 12:32.66 going into BIG EAST weekend.

Next up, the Red Storm will compete in the BIG EAST Championships on Feb. 22-23. Coinciding with the BIG EAST Championships, the Red Storm track & field team will be hosting an alumni reception at the 168th Street Armory.

The reception will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Armory Track & Field Center. A minimum donation of $20 to the St. John's track & field program is suggested to help defray the costs of the event. Lunch is included. The Armory is also charging a separate meet entrance fee of $15. Please visit www.armorytrack.com for specific driving directions and parking information.

Please RSVP by Feb. 15 to Martin Nutty at nuttym@stjohns.edu or call 718-990-6159. An RSVP is required to attend. Questions can also be directed to Martin Nutty.