Feb. 2, 2006

QUEENS, N.Y. - Head Coach Jim Hurt announced the hiring of John Honerkamp as an assistant coach for the track and field team, effective immediately. Honerkamp is a professional runner and graduated from St. John's in 1998.

We're very excited that John is coming back to the St. John's track and field family," said Hurt "He is a good fit with his background and work ethic. He was an outstanding collegiate athlete and his presence on the staff will continue our commitment to a total team program, especially with his distance and mid-distance expertise."

Honerkamp ran for St. John's from 1994-1998. He was an eight-time All-BIG EAST and six-time All-East (IC4A) runner. He also made the BIG EAST All-Academic team 12 times. Honerkamp also became the youngest semi-finalist at the U.S. Olympic Trials for the 800 meters in 1996.

Since graduation, Honerkamp became a professional athlete, running for the Reebok Enclave Track Club from the fall of 1998 through January of 2001. In February of that year, Honerkamp began running for the New York Athletic Club, which he still runs for today.

Honerkamp is an eight-time top-10 finisher at the United States nationals. He is also a member of the American record-holding 4x1500 meter relay team. Some of Honerkamp's best performances include running the mile in 4:01.3, the 1500 meter in 3:41.58, the 800 meter in 1:47.26 and the 400 meters in 47.7 (relay).

"John's hiring shows that we are serious about building the cross country and the distance teams back up, said Hurt. "This along with our successful sprint and field teams will give us the total program."

Honerkamp is also an experienced coach. He was a volunteer assistant for Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y., and was an assistant coach in 2001 for Episcopal High School in Arlington, Va. He was also a camp counselor at The Running School for eight years, coaching some of top high school athletes in the country.

Honerkamp joins an elite assistant coaching staff at St. John's. Virginia Young-Coleman set an American record in the 20 lb. weight throw in 1989 and was also the U.S.A. Track & Field champion in the weight throw in 1988 and 1989. Tom Farrell was a bronze medalist at the Mexico City Olympics in the 800 meters in 1968, and he also set the world record in the 880 yards and the 600 meters in 1965. Farrell was also fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in the 800 meters in 1964.

### Red Storm Athletics###