Burks Brings Home Triple Jump Medal on Day Two of 125th Penn Relays

Friday, April 26

Philadelphia, PA.

Temple University

Penn Relays (Friday)

Photo by: Nguyen Ho

Burks Brings Home Triple Jump Medal on Day Two of 125th Penn Relays

4.26.19 | Women's Track and Field

PHILADELPHIA – Day two of the 125th running of the Penn Relays was filled with another slew of outstanding performances by the Owls. Ultimately competing in just two events on the day due to unfortunate weather circumstances, the track and field squad represented Temple well in front of the massive crowd at Franklin Field.

Meet Highlights
> Day two for the Owls at the historic Penn Relays began in a soaking wet sand-pit for the college section of the women's triple jump. After surpassing a lightening delay, the sophomore duo of Candus Burks and Kayla Nesbitt-McEwen came out strong in the pouring rain to compete in front of the thrilling crowd. The pair shined in the prelims, with Burks hitting a season-best mark of 11.77m and Nesbitt-McEwen jumping 11.70m to advance into finals together. Burks' initial prelim mark of 11.77m ended up being her best on the day, good for a fourth place medal in the event. Nesbitt-McEwen hit her best jump of the day in 11.71m during finals, moving her up to seventh overall.
> Following the triple jump, the squad had a solid showing in their first 4x200m relay of the season. Out of the blocks for Temple was sophomore Sydney Williams, who ran a solid leg to hand off to fellow sophomore Mallorie Smith. After competing at the CARIFTA Games this past weekend, freshman Marissa White was back on the track to run the third leg of the relay. She carried the baton into junior Madison Beecher, who ran a steady anchor leg for the quartet. Overall, the Owls clocked in at 1:40.28 to finish 16th in the field.
> Despite being slotted for the College Sprint Medley Championship of America, the Owls did not race the event due to the imminent storms.

Up Next
> Temple will be back in action tomorrow for the third and final day of the Penn Relays. At 10 am, sophomore Aisha Brown will be back in her signature event to compete in the College Women's High Jump Championship. After finishing fourth in the event at the Relays just a year ago, Brown will look to best her mark and earn a spot on the podium.
> In the afternoon, the Owls will put together its first 4x800m relay of the season. The event is slated for 1:15 pm, and will feature sophomore McKenzie Gelvin, senior Ashton Dunkley, junior Millie Howard and sophomore Helene Gottlieb.
> After running their fastest time of the season on Thursday, the Owls' 4x400m relay of Smith, Brown, Beecher and Williams put together a stellar race to advance into finals. The quartet will race on Saturday evening at 5:25 pm, competing in a heat against UConn, Stony Brook, Penn State, Hampton, Duquesne, Delaware, Maine and Coppin State.