The St. John’s track and field team finished in third place at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships, presented by Jeep, on May 16. The team earned a total of 127 points, achieving four gold medals, six podium finishes, and setting two new program records.
This result highlights the team’s strong performance among conference competitors. UConn won both the men’s and women’s titles at the event.
Senior Jamora Alves secured her ninth individual BIG EAST title by breaking a 28-year-old school record in the discus with a throw of 55.89 meters (183 feet, 4 inches). This mark also broke her own Grenada national record set last year at the Penn Relays and currently ranks 24th in NCAA Division I. Alves was named Most Outstanding Field Performer for her achievements. “Yesterday, Alves won the shot put by nearly two meters with a toss of 15.46 meters (50 feet, 8.75 inches). This is the second time in her career that she was named to the honor,” according to St. John’s Red Storm Women’s Track & Field.
Alves’s teammates Desiree Pagan and Maja Henry placed seventh and eighth respectively in discus, making St. John’s the only school to have three athletes reach finals in that event.
Chinenye Josephine Onourah claimed her fifth individual title in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.68 seconds—the third fastest outdoor time on St. John’s all-time list—while Kettia Ambrose took second place with a time of 53.12 seconds.
The relay team consisting of Onourah, Ambrose, Nyla Henderson, and Leilani Robinson set another program record by winning the 4×400-meter relay with a margin of ten seconds over their competitors.
In other events, Naiara Garcia-Moreno won bronze in an historic-fastest ever BIG EAST Championship women’s final for the 800-meter run; Fia Viklund took bronze in triple jump; while Ambrose joined Cassandra Lemus-Sodji, Ryana Dennis and Nia-Ruby Forbes-Agyepong to secure bronze for St John’s in the women’s 4×100-meter relay.
