By The TimesLedger
St. John’s University junior John Deforest, of Cottekill, N.Y., won the Ulster County Men’s Amateur Championship held in Kingston, N.Y. this past weekend. Deforest carded a seven-over par 291 to earn a three-shot victory.
DeForest jumped out to a quick lead, firing a first round seven-under par 65. He took a 10-stroke lead to the back nine of the final round when he ran into trouble on the par four 10th hole. Deforest would drive the ball into the trees and after a couple of poorly played iron shots, he would tap in for a quintuple bogey nine. His 10-stroke lead had disappeared in a matter of six holes. DeForest would fight back and a birdie on the par five 16th sealed the three-stroke victory. Dave Natoli, who finished in second place, birdied the sixth, seventh and 13th holes to pull even with DeForest, but two double bogies and one triple bogey took him out of contention.
DeForest is one of the top returning players for the Red Storm and he looks to help lead the Red Storm to their third straight NCAA Regional Championship appearance in 2003.
Zollman takes 18th at USA Track & Field Junior Championships
St. John’s University freshman Grace Zollman, of Joseph, Ore., finished 18th in the javelin throw this past weekend at the USA Tack and Field Junior Championships, hosted by Stanford University. Zollman’s throw of 34.17-meters ranks among the top-10 javelin performances in St. John’s history. She qualified for the championships earlier in the season at the Miami Gatorade Invitational when she posted a throw of 40.21-meters, ranking fourth on SJU’s all-time performance list. Zollman finished eighth at the Big East Championships and is expected to continue the long tradition of SJU track and field throwers.
St. John’s alum and two time All-American Chris Graff traveled to Stanford to compete in the 10,000-meters at the USA Track and Field Senior National Championships. Graff finished in fifth place with a time 28:32.10.
Fellow SJU alumnus Neni Davis, the SJU record holder in the shot put, qualified for the Empire State Games from the Long Island Region. Davis won the first Empire State Games shot put title in 1977.
