First Place Finishes from White and Jones Highlight Day One of Charlotte 49er Classic

3.15.19 | Women's Track and Field

CHARLOTTE – Ending a two-week hiatus from competition after the AAC Indoor Championships, the Temple University track and field squad debuted a solid start to their 2019 outdoor season on day one of the Charlotte 49er Classic. The Friday portion of the meet was highlighted by a massive personal record from freshman Marissa White and a first place finsih in the steeplechase from Lucy Jones.

Meet Highlights
> Sydney Williams got the day started for the Owls in the 100m hurdles. The sophomore conquered the short hurdles in 14.69, running a solid first performance of the season and earning fifth place overall.
> Building off of her incredible performance at the conference meet a few weeks ago, White was remarkable in the 400m for her first time on an outdoor track in Cherry and White. The freshman dominated the competition, winning the 81-person field by over seven tenths of a second and posting a huge PR of 54.62.
> Jones hit the outdoor track to run the 3000m steeplechase for the first time in 2019. The sophomore did not disappoint, crushing her signature event with a time of 10:45.89 to earn Temple its second first place finish of the day.
> Kira Von Ehren earned a top-10 finish in the 1500m run, placing eighth overall with a time of 4:35.23. Senior Katie Leisher joined her heat one of the event, clocking a time of 4:44.81. From heat two, sophomore Michelle Joyce earned a time of 4:44.87, finishing just one spot behind Leisher. In her first outdoor track and field race in Cherry and White, freshman Keegan Simonsen finished the race with a time of 4:57.27.

From the Coach
"The first day of the outdoor season always takes some getting used to," said head coach Elvis Forde. "The weather may have been brutal, but if you have been in track & field long enough, you know that the weather is what it is and we cannot control it, so you just have to be ready to go compete.
> "Looking back on the day, if anybody was ready to compete it was Marissa. I expected her to open up the season in the mid 55's, but to run 54.62 when we haven't done anything special to prepare for that performance, it just reiterates what I have been saying all year long. She is just a competitive person, she knows how to find the finish line by really getting after it and that was outstanding.
> "On the distance side, we had some solid races from Kira and Katie, but it is important that we can all compete strong all the time. Lucy had a very good opener in the steeplechase that was close to her personal best, and she will keep working on being more efficient over the barriers and continue to get better in the event. Sydney had a good 100 hurdles race to open up the season, but we faulted quite a bit in the 400 hurdles.
> "Overall for the first day of the outdoor season, we see that we have some work ahead of us. We can't be naïve and say we had a great day, but we had a good start that we will build off of. We look forward to coming back and competing for day two tomorrow."

Up Next
> Day two will start in the field, when sophomore Julianne Foering debuts her throwing skills for the first time this year at 10 am in the javelin. Kayla Nesbitt-McEwen will return to the action when she competes in the triple jump and high jump at 11 am and 12 pm, respectfully.
> Saturday's running events will begin with sophomores Helene Gottlieb and McKenzie Gelvin in the 800m run at 12:50 pm. Then, White, Madison Beecher and Mallorie Smith will return to sprint the 200m at 2:10 pm.
> Brown will compete in the high jump at 2:30 pm as she looks to build off of a solid slew of indoor performances in her signature event. Then, freshman Lexi Walsh will race the 3000m at 3:30 pm. The weekend will conclude with the 4x400m relay at 4:50 pm.