Track & Field Opens 2016-2017 Season on Friday

Track & Field Opens 2016-2017 Season on Friday

12.1.16 | Women's Track and Field

PHILADELPHIA – Entering the third season under head coach Elvis Forde, Temple women's track and field is set to begin its next chapter. On Friday, the Owls will commence the indoor season at the Lehigh Season Opener hosted at Lehigh University.

"Every new year brings new and exciting challenges," said Forde. "We look forward to those challenges. Once we get started with practices, we are able to learn a lot more about the athletes in the pool. Right now, we are limited with some injuries and some other things that have curtailed some of our athletes from being able to practice at full speed. However, I have some high expectations as I move into my third year here at Temple."

With a host of new faces joining the team, including assistant coach Tramaine Ellison, Forde hopes to leverage talents in order take the track and field program to new heights. In addition to the new talent, he expects the team to lean heavily on the six seniors, Simone Brownlee, Simone Chapman, Kenya Gaston, Sydnee Jacques, Jimmia McCluskey, and Bionca St. Fleur.

Also returning this year are sophomores Crystal Jones and Sylvia Wilson. Last season, Jones qualified for the 400m hurdle final at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships. One of Wilson's major accomplishments was earning first place in the 60m hurdle final at the conference indoor championships.

"We have an outstanding group of sophomores in Crystal and Sylvia," Forde boasted. "However, Sylvia has not been able to practice all fall, which for me is a little bit nerve wrecking. Crystal has been doing very well and I am excited about that."

Forde predicts that the middle distance events will be one of the team's core strengths this year. Returning for the distance squad this season is sophomore Katie Leisher. Leisher will be coming off of an amazing cross country season where she was one of the Owls' leading scorers.

"You can tell that she has gone home after last year and really worked hard to form herself into a really quality division I athlete," said Forde. "I am excited to see what special things she can do on the track for our program this year."

In addition to a list of distance returners, Forde is excited about the progress freshmen Millie Howard and Grace Moore have made with the cross country program. Howard was the squad's no. 3 runner, while Moore earned an individual title at the Leopard Invitational at Lafayette College, leading the Temple to its first team win of the season.

Following this weekend's season opener, the Owls face some tough competition at six indoor meets before the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 24 and 25. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held in College Station, Texas on Mar. 10 and 11. Temple will open the outdoor season hosting the Philadelphia College Classic on Mar. 17 and 18 in conjunction with Penn, its first home meet in a number of years.

"We want to bring as much of our campus community out to be a part of it because we haven't had an event like this at Temple in a very long time," explained Forde. "It will be a special day for our program where we can invite the alumni back and show them that the foundation they built for our program has turned into something huge."

Forde and his staff have high expectations for the coming season. He notes that "through our branching out to new events, the addition of assistant coach Tramaine Ellison who is doing a fantastic job with our jumpers, and the improvement of our athletes, our expectation is that the group will be much better than they were last year which will be an amazing feat for our program."