Track and Field Ready to Shine at 125th Penn Relays

Thursday, April 25

Philadelphia, Pa.

Temple University

Penn Relays (Thursday)

Track and Field Ready to Shine at 125th Penn Relays

4.24.19 | Women's Track and Field

Event Schedule Watch History of the Penn Relays Live Stats/Results

PHILADELPHIA – There's thrilling action and fierce competition on the horizon for the Temple track and field team as it prepares to leave it all on the track at the upcoming 125th Penn Relays. The historic meet is set to begin Thursday, April 25 and will run through Saturday, April 27 with Cherry and White spread through a variety of individual events and relays. The meet will mark the conclusion of the Owls' regular season schedule as they get their final marks before the upcoming AAC Outdoor Championships.

About the Penn Relays
> The Penn Relays is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually by the University of Pennsylvania for 125 years. The Relays are hosted at the historic Franklin Field, with the goal of providing the best track and field competition for the greatest number of participants of all levels, ages and abilities.
> Temple looks to top its record-breaking performance at the Penn Relays in 2018. Last year, the quartet of Millie Howard, Sydney Williams, Helene Gottlieb and Katie Pinson reset the distance medley relay record to 11:34.63. The next day, the sprint medley relay squad of Ebonee Jackson, Mallorie Smith, Howard and Williams broke the program record, updating the time to 3:54.53 in the record books.

Scouting the Owls
Thursday
> The opening day of the Penn Relays is the busiest for the Owls and will kick off with two individual events, highlighting Williams in the 400m hurdles and sophomore Kayla Nesbitt-McEwen in the high jump at 10 am. Williams's 400m hurdles stint will be her first-ever individual race at the Penn Relays for the Cherry and White, as she looks to improve upon her season's best time of 1:02.74. Nesbitt-McEwen will look to follow in her own footsteps after hitting a PR of 1.71m in the high jump last year at the Relays.
> Following a gap in the action, the Owls will be back for a riveting distance medley relay scheduled for 5:30 pm. Temple will race in its first Championship of America section, competing against some of the nation's top-talent as it looks to shatter the school-record at the Relays for the third straight year. In the relay pool for the event is Gottlieb, freshman Marissa White, Howard, junior Kira Von Ehren and senior Ashton Dunkley. A DMR is made up of a 1200-meter leg, a 400-meter leg, an 800-meter leg and a 1600-meter leg.
> At 6:25 pm, the Owls will put forth their best 4x400m relay with junior Madison Beecher, Smith, Dunkley and Williams all in on the action.
> At 8 pm, sophomore Lucy Jones will look to carry her record-breaking momentum from last weekend into another stellar 3000m steeplechase. As a freshman, Jones finished 21st at the Relays with a time of 10:47.54, which she bested by over 11 seconds last weekend with a new PR of 10:36.10. At 8:25 pm, Von Ehren will compete in her first-ever 3000m at the Penn Relays.
> The Thursday night distance events will conclude with sophomore Michelle Joyce racing her first-ever individual event at Penn and senior Katie Leisher wrapping up her regular-season career with the Owls. The pair is set to compete in the 5000m run at 8:40 pm.
Friday
> Nesbitt-McEwen will be back for her second event of the weekend to get the Owls started with day two of the Penn Relays. The sophomore will compete in the triple jump at 11 am, and will be joined by Candus Burks as they both represent the Owls in the event for the first time at the Relays.
> At 1:55 pm, the squad will put together its first 4x200m relay of the season. Beecher, Smith, White, Williams and Nesbitt-McEwen are all in contention to compete in the shortest sprint relay of the day for Temple.
> At 6:05 pm, the Owls will conclude Friday's action in the college section of the Sprint Medley Relay. The squad will put together its fastest quartet to make its mark on the track in the event and try to reset the program record at the Relays for the second straight year. The SMR will be made up of Beecher, Smith, White and Gottlieb.
Saturday
> The Relays will conclude on Saturday, beginning with sophomore Aisha Brown competing in the event for the second straight year. The conference-leader will look to best last year's mark of 1.74m that tied her for fourth overall to earn a spot on the podium.
> Finally, Temple will put together its first 4x800m relay of the season at 1:15 pm. Representing the Owls will be Dunkley, sophomore McKenzie Gelvin, Howard and Gottlieb.

Last Time Out
> The Owls are coming off of a day full of personal bests and a new school record at the Larry Ellis Invitational last weekend. The sophomore duo of Gelvin and Joyce got the day started for the Owls in good fashion, each placing in the top-10 in the unseeded portion of the 1500m. Gelvin finished the race in 4:42.45 for third in the field of 30, followed by Joyce finishing ninth with a time of 4:45.33.
> Williams was a bright light in the 100m hurdles, advancing to finals where she ran the seventh-fastest time in the conference and her fastest time of the season. She clocked in at a seasons best 14.53 in the prelims to advance to finals, where she had her best-ever performance as an Owl to finish fifth with a PR of 14.28.
> The trio of Smith, Nesbitt-McEwen and Beecher raced well in the 200m dash, all finishing within .07 of a second of one another. Smith clocked the fastest mark of the group at 25.53, followed by Nesbitt-McEwen and Beecher who tied at 25.60. Nesbitt-McEwen's mark was the fastest of her career at Temple.
> Jones highlighted the day in the 3,000m steeplechase, improving upon her own school record by over three seconds and running her fastest time this season by over nine seconds. Clocking a time of 10:36.10, the sophomore ran the fifth fastest time in the AAC and placed fifth in an extremely competitive field at the Larry Ellis Invitational.
> Foering shined in javelin once again, resetting her personal-best with a solid series on the day. The sophomore threw the javelin 41.03-meters to earn fifth overall.

On the Lookout
> Thursday's DMR is the first the Owls will run during the 2019 outdoor season. Back in January, the group of Howard, White, Gottlieb and Grace Moore shattered Temple's Indoor DMR record by a whopping 13 seconds, resetting it to 11:23.03.
> As the regular season action comes to a close, the Owls are projected to be fierce competitors at the upcoming conference meet based on where they currently sit in the rankings. 11 Temple student-athletes currently sit in the top-10 in 13 events on the American's 2019 performance list, including two conference leaders.
> Howard's record-breaking 1500m run of 4:16.81 at the Bison Outdoor Classic still holds strong as the best in the conference. Gottlieb trails her teammate by just four seconds, taking the second best spot in the AAC with a time of 4:20.29. Howard's time puts her at 11th in the East Region, and Gottlieb's mark is good for 28th. The mid-distance duo has also shined in the 800m, with Gottlieb remaining in second (2:08.51) and Howard at ninth (2:12.48) overall in the conference.
> Brown's high jump mark of 1.76m from the Ole Miss Classic also remains in its rightful spot at the top of the American, while sitting 23rd overall in the region. Nesbitt-McEwen also represents the Owls well in the jumps, coming in at 10th in the AAC with a triple jump mark of 12.23m. Also in the field, Foering's PR throw of 41.03m in the javelin last weekend bumped her up to ninth in the conference.
> Jones' record-breaking time of 10:36.10 in the 3000m steeplechase last weekend bumped her up to sixth in the conference. In the hurdles, Williams' PR of 14.28 moved her up into the top-10 and puts her in the number eight spot. White's 400m season-opener of 54.62 also keeps her as the eighth-fastest in the American.
> The Owls are also represented well in the distance events, with Joyce (35:48.42) and Leisher (35:54.27) sitting eighth and ninth in the 10K, respectfully. Von Ehren's time of 17:12.81 from the Raleigh Relays also puts her in the top-10 at ninth.