Women's T&F Has Record Setting Night at Penn State National Open

Friday, January 27

Penn State University (State College, Pa.)

All Day

Temple University

Penn State National Open

Kiersten Laroche

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Women's T&F Has Record Setting Night at Penn State National Open

1.27.12 | Women's Track and Field

Owls place 4th in distance medley relay; Break 30-year old school record

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Making history on the track is becoming a norm for the Temple Owls this season. In the opening day of the Penn State National Invitational on Friday, the Owls broke a school record that stood for 30 years in the distance medley relay event.

Comprised of Tonney Smith, Michelle Davis Timothy, Tashima Stephens and Jenna Dubrow, the squad crossed the finish line in 11:59.73 to meet ECAC qualifying standards. More impressively, Temple finished that event in the fastest time it has since 1982 when it was completed in 12:15.60. In Friday's running of this event, the Owls earned a fourth place finish, burning East Stroudsburg by nearly 16 seconds (12:15.04), West Virginia and Hampton. Shippensburg won the event, while Saint Joseph's kept the Owls from claiming third place by just hundreths of a second.

All across the board, it was another successful day for the Owls.

First-year runner Kiersten Laroche represented the Owls in the pentathlon, where she placed 16th through the five events. In the high jump, Laroche landed a distance of 1.56 meters. The multis competitor from Bowie, Md. also placed eighth in the shot put, reaching 9.77 meters on her throw. Laroche took 13th place finishes in the long jump and the 60 meter hurdles before ending the 800 meter run in 2:46.97 for 16th place.

In weight throw, freshman Margo Britton placed 17th in the event, but reached a new personal best with her throw distance of 14.51 meters. Sophomore Alanna Owens competed in the same event, placing 15th with a throw of 15.06 meters.

Junior sprinter Isatta Kenneh set a new personal best with her time of 7.78 in the 60 meter dash, where she placed 25th out of 45 runners.

"We're progressing in the right direction," head coach Eric Mobley said. "Everyone is giving all that they've got and it's showing in our success. We're seeing several runners reach new personal records each week, so if this keeps up, we're only going to get better. We held our own today against some very talented and high calibar running schools today, so we look forward to getting back out there tomorrow."

Temple will continue the Penn State National Open on Saturday. The day opens at noon with the women's high jump and culminates with the men's 4x400 meter relay at 6:00 p.m. To follow the day's events, click here.