Howard Holds New School Record in 1000m Race

Friday, February 17

Bronx, N.Y.

Temple University

Artie O'Connor College Invitational

Howard Holds New School Record in 1000m Race

2.18.17 | Women's Track and Field

BRONX, N.Y. – Temple women's track and field returned to the New Balance Track and Field Center at the New York Armory on Friday for the Artie O'Connor Invitational. One of three distance squad personal records, Freshman Millie Howard broke the school record in the 1000 meter race with her time of 2:52.02.

Howard's performance earned her third place overall and marked a personal best. Freshman Grace Moore also reached a personal best with a faster time than the school record, completing the race in 2:55.16 (6th). Assata Cowart held the previous school record in the 1K since 2011 (2.55.78). Junior Katie Pinson also competed, earning a seventh-place finish and reaching a new personal record of 2:56.7.

"Our distance athletes have been super consistent all season," said head coach Elvis Forde. "Whatever they are focused on they tend to stand out among everyone else in terms of their work ethic. Millie is still making that adjustment from a more European style of competition. We brought her here to help our program, but being exposed to our style of indoor competition is helping her as well. I hope she continues to keep her confidence in herself and what she can do as we move forward in the season."

On the field, seniors Bionca St. Fleur and Simone Chapman represented the Owls in the long jump and triple jump, respectively. St. Fleur's mark of 5.58m earned her third place in the long jump out of 26 participants. In the triple jump, Chapman held the No. 2 spot with her jump of 11.35m.

The 60 meter hurdle was run by Crystal Jones and Ebonee Jackson. In the preliminaries, Jackson took first in her heat, completing the race in 9.05 which launched her into the finals. However, she withdrew from the competition. Jones finished third in the preliminaries with a time of 9.17, allowing her to move onto the finals as well. In the final round, she notched a second-place finish, completing the event in 9.06.

"Crystal also plays a key role in our overall team success," said Forde. "She has been another consistent athlete that continues to improve. There's a lot of weight on her sophomore shoulders right now to perform well for us at conferences and I believe she is ready for it."

Senior Jimmia McCluskey took on the 60 meter dash. After running a 7.89 in the preliminaries, she made it to the finals. McCluskey then almost matched her personal best time of 7.80 with a 7.81 in the event for a fourth-place finish overall.

Seniors Kenya Gaston and St. Fleur both ran the 200 meter dash, finishing in 25.50 (9th) and 25.59 (10th), respectively. Freshman Jazmyne Williams competed in the 400 meter dash. She finished with a time of 59.09 to take sixth place, a small personal best showing her improvement.

Overall, the Owls finished third in team standings among the 19 schools.

Next weekend Temple women's track and field will head to Birmingham, Ala. for the 2017 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships.

Full Results