Howard Wins 3,000 Meter Run at Penn State National

Friday, January 26

State College, Pa.

Temple University

Penn State National

Photo by: Craig Houtz

Howard Wins 3,000 Meter Run at Penn State National

1.27.18 | Women's Track and Field

Full Results

State College, Pa. – Temple women's track and field closed out the weekend at the Penn State National with a host of personal bests and top-10 finishes. Saturday's competition was highlighted with an individual title in the 3000m from sophomore Millie Howard.

Keys to the Meet
>The Owls began day two of the Penn State National with the 400m dash. Freshman Mallorie Smith hit a personal best time of 58.52 to take ninth place overall.
> Next, freshman Aisha Brown represented Temple in the high jump. In just her second competition with the Owls, she placed third with a leap of 1.65m (5'5").
> In the 800m, junior Ashton Dunkley reached a personal best time of 2:15.79 to place fourth out of 12.
> Following the 800m was the women's mile featuring freshman Lucy Jones. In just her first time competing in the event for Temple, Jones snagged a third place finish with a time of 5:02.28 only behind Akron's Haley Hess (second) and Maryland's Emily Bracher (first).
> Sophomore Madison Beecher and freshmen Grace Gillespie and Smith toed the line for the 200m dash. Beecher ran arguably her best race with Temple to date, reaching a career best time of 25.65 (eighth). Gillespie improved on her personal best 200m time, completing the race in 25.91 (13th). Smith rounded out Temple's squad with a 26.08 (15th).
> Howard led the way in her first indoor 3000m race, snagging first out of the field of 16 with a time of 9.49.97. Both senior Katie Pinson and freshman Michelle Joyce surpassed their personal bests in the event with times 9:55.18 and 10:10.81, respectively.
> Temple entered one relay team into the 4x400m. The combination of freshman Sydney Williams, Smith, Beecher, and Helene Gottlieb notched a season-best time of 3:51.01 for the Owls and placed second overall.

Quotable
> "I was quite nervous heading into the 3K race today because it is longer than I usually race on the track and I just recently came back off an injury which made things a little scary. However, I knew I had a lot of strength so I remained open minded. Having Katie running with me helped me to push myself. I'm very happy that I won and am looking forward to my continued growth and improvement throughout the rest of the season." - Millie Howard

> "I feel the same way tonight that I did after the first day of competition here at Penn State. Our team is steadily making improvements and they are really starting to understand that we are getting into the meat of the season. This was one of the most competitive meets of our indoor season and it was a great day overall for our team. Millie is very talented and Coach Snyder is doing a great job with helping her leverage her talents. I believe she can make the 3000m one of her best events if she really puts her mind to it. Today we put four people together for the first time and had our season's best performance in the 4x400m relay, which was outstanding. Sydney, Madison, Mallorie, and Helene really stepped up. As the season goes on, everything will start to come together for us, however we have to continue to raise the bar every weekend. Next weekend, it's on to the Villanova Invite at Ocean Breeze and we're hoping that the atmosphere provides the team the same energy and excitement they found today." - Head coach Elvis Forde

Up Next
> Temple track and field will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Villanova Invite hosted at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.