After some late season strong finishes, the St. John’s men’s and women’s track and field teams went to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. for the 2003 Big East Championships Feb. 24.
Riding their season-best first place finish and high momentum, the Johnnies took a blow in their dreams for the title. The men finished in 12th place while the ladies compiled a 14th place finish.
For the men, junior Dewayne Barrett had a team-best, first-place finish in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:03.14.
“Dewayne won the last Big East Championship for the men’s team” St. John’s Head Coach Jim Hurt said. “He got better over the season and finally beat those other runners who he always lost to by so little.”
Other men’s notables were Mohammed Kanu, who also placed in the top 10 with a time of 49.17 in the 400-meter dash, good for sixth place.
In the men’s 4×400 relay, the Red Storm finished third with a time of 3:16.10.
Graduate student Jason Goulart continued to build on a solid season by placing second in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 17.39m and senior Dietrech Washington placed second in the shot put with a throw of 14.48m.
On the ladies side, junior Alina Abramova had two top 10 finishes with fourth place in the triple jump at 12.62m and eighth in the long jump with a mark of 5.75m.
Senior Mika Rose and sophomore Blessing Egwu both placed seventh in their respective events.
In the high jump, Rose scored a mark of 1.55m and Egwu had a toss of 15.94m in the weight throw.
The St. John’s track coaching staff feels good about some of the team’s individual accomplishments.
“The better people continue to improve, the better we can get. Some of the team will re-tool and get ready for the indoor championships and maybe NCAA’s,” Hurt said. “The other team members will now spend five to seven weeks preparing for spring track. At this point, our team will have a major split but will continue to work hard.”
Upon closing out the winter season and entering the spring, Hurt feels the team will be in good shape.
“Lots of our young and newcomers will be better in the outdoor season, having learned from the winter track,” Hurt said. “They gained lots of experience by competing against such high level of competition, and they know what to expect each time.”
