A Season to Build Upon: 2019 Women’s Cross Country Season Recap

Photo by: (Joe Murphy/American Athletic Co

A Season to Build Upon: 2019 Women’s Cross Country Season Recap

1.15.20 | Women's Cross Country

PHILADELPHIA - The 2019 women’s cross country season saw the team finish in the top 10 at every meet, along with finishing third in the American Athletic Conference and seventh in the Mid-Atlantic Region. It was a great season for the ladies and one head coach James Snyder knows this team can build upon.

The most exciting part about this fall was knowing that we were going to be a little bit ‘under-womaned’ - at the start of the year we had a pretty small group that we expected to be up front, and the best part that came from it was that our seniors really stepped up.

Head coach James Snyder

Senior Leadership

Seniors Grace Moore and Millie Howard were the leaders of the 2019 squad.
The pair were top finishers for the Owls at the Ohio State Buckeye Preview and the Penn State National Open as Temple raced against nationally ranked opponents.
Coach Snyder relied on Moore and Howard to set an example for their younger teammates, specifically the juniors, who will be filling their leadership roles next season.

Grace and Millie have been in our program for four years, this was their final cross country season with us and for both of them to have the seasons that they had to finish the year the way they did was really impressive.

Head coach James Snyder

2019 Accomplishments

For the second-straight season, the Owls finished 3rd at the American Athletic Conference Championships in Memphis, Tenn.
Moore ran to her best conference finish ever, placing sixth overall to earn All-Conference. Michelle Joyce also earned All-Conference recognition with her 15th-place finish.
Howard fell just outside of All-Conference status as she finished 16th overall. The senior let this fuel her heading into the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, where she was the first in the Cherry and White to cross the finish line and the 22nd overall with a time of 20:46.0. This finish earned her All-Region honors for the first time in her career.
Moore also earned All-Region accolades as she finished right behind her teammate at 20:46.7 for 24th overall.
Both Howard and Joyce were recognized for their work in the classroom as they were named to the 2019 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team.

Across the board for the ladies it was a solid season, there’s nothing to be ashamed of or disappointed in or beat up over. People were forced to step up this year and I had a great group of ladies that did that.

Head coach James Snyder

Competition in the Mid-Atlantic

After finishing fourth in the region in 2018, the Temple women’s cross country team took a step backwards and finished seventh in the Mid-Atlantic.
The Owls faced tough competition in nationally ranked Villanova and Penn State, who finished first and second, respectively, at the Mid-Atlantic Regional. Both programs would go on to compete at the National Championships. Penn State placed 18th at the national meet while Villanova finished 24th out of 31 teams.
Temple entered the regional meet as the seventh ranked program in the Mid-Atlantic and raced to that exact finish.

I think it is the first year in my time here where we actually haven’t moved forward from where we were previously at the regional so that was a little disappointing. But the region stepped up this year and we didn’t take the step forward that we needed to, so we just have to work harder heading into next season.

Head coach James Snyder