Red Storm Track & Field Student-Athletes Achieve National Rankings - ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Red Storm Track & Field Student-Athletes Achieve National Rankings

St. John's boasts eleven performances among the top-50 in the NCAA.


	Head track & field coach Jim Hurt has been encouraged by the performance of his team early on in the season.

Dec. 14, 2011

Queens, N.Y. - The indoor track & field season has just gotten underway, yet the Red Storm are already making noise on the national and conference levels. To date the St. John's roster features eleven different performances among the top-50 in the NCAA rankings.

Junior Molly Ellis, the reigning 400-meter indoor BIG EAST Champion has picked up right where she left off last winter. Ellis ran a 400-meter time of 56.06 seconds at the Bill Ward Invitational which currently places her first in both the national NCAA and BIG EAST rankings according to DirectAthletics.com. Freshman Claire Mooney ranks twelfth in the NCAA in the 400-meter and fifth in the BIG EAST conference. Sophomore Shayna Presley, junior Trudy-Ann McLean and freshman Nastasya Rodriques all rank in the top-50 nationally as well for the 400-meter race with Presley 26th, McLean 28th and Rodriques 42nd.

The Red Storm throwers, who have dominated the leaderboards at early season competitions, also rank highly against national competition. Sophomore Angela Onye and senior Chanel King have been the two performers in BIG EAST for the weight throw in 2011. Onye's throw of 17.31 meters and King's toss of 17.20 meters gave them first and second place at the Bill Ward Invitational and also rank them 32nd and 35th in the NCAA. Sophomores Natasha Amazan and Danette Hinton also rank eighth and ninth respectively in the BIG EAST for the weight throw.

Priscilla Frederick, who isn't competing with St. John's for the indoor season, competed unattached at the Bill Ward Invitational in the high jump event. Her mark of 1.81 meters is the second highest of any collegiate athlete so far this season. Frederick remains eligible for the outdoor season and will rejoin the team in the spring.

Other NCAA ranked Red Storm performances include senior Nicole Cocozza's 31st ranked mile-run time of 5:09.8 and junior Stephanie Barnes who is slotted at 27th in the NCAA for the long jump with a distance of 5.69 meters. The St. John's 4x400-meter relay team also boasts the 25th fastest time in the NCAA and fifth in the BIG EAST at 3:52.68.

In other Red Storm track & field news, senior Chanel King was recognized by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS) and Scholar Baller for her academic achievements. King, a criminal justice major, was a Third Team Academic Momentum Award recipient for her continued academic improvement and impact on her classmates, teammates, academic advisors and professors. The NCAS received 89 nominations from 55 different colleges and universities before finally selecting 49 student-athletes to receive the award.

St. John's track & field is off until the Princeton Quad Meet on Saturday, Jan. 14. Follow the track & field program all season long through RedStormSports.com and on Twitter (@STJ_Track_XC).