Lally Leads the Way in Track & Field Season Opening Meet

Friday, January 29

Houston, Texas

Temple University

#HTownSpeedCity Series II

Lally Leads the Way in Track & Field Season Opening Meet

1.29.21 | Women's Track and Field

HOUSTON – The Temple track and field team competed in the #HTownSpeedCity Series meet to open the 2020-21 season on Friday at Yeomen Fieldhouse in Houston. The Owls put together a slew of solid performances to begin the new season.

Meet Highlights
> Marissa White was the first Owl to cross the finish line in the 200m with a time of 25.38, less than a second behind her personal best.
> Mary Olayinka Ilelaboye ran a personal-best 25.62 in the 200m as she competed at her first meet for TU.
> Ilelaboye also had a good showing in the 400m, leading the Owls as she clocked in at 58.28.
> Graduate student Alanna Lally was the first to cross the finish line in the 800m, earning 10 points for the Owls. Rookie Léa Kerbiriou followed closely for a second-place finish in her first meet for the Cherry and White. Sophia Gullotti finished just outside the top eight in the event as she finished at 2:32.72.
> The quartet of Ilelaboye, Mallorie Smith, Lally and White represented Temple in the 4x400m relay. The squad earned a fourth-place finish with a time of 3:49.79.
> Gullotti recorded the top time for Temple in the 60m dash prelims with her mark of 9.50.
> Tannekee Strachan led the Cherry and White in both the long jump and triple jump with her marks of 5.07m and 11.48, respectively.
> Senior Aisha Brown took bronze in the high jump with her mark of 1.70m to earn the Owls six points.
> In her first collegiate field event, freshman Nicole Castor cleared the bar at 1.55m in the high jump to finish just shy of a point-scoring position.

From the Coach
> "I thought we had a good day with a handful of good performances," expressed head coach Elvis Forde. "The girls were very competitive. Alanna and Léa were great in the 800m, finishing at one and two in that event. Mary Ilelaboye, one of our newcomers, ran very well today in both the 200m and 400m. Nicole Castor and Sophia Gullotti were also quite solid at today's meet. Overall, it was a good assessment of where we are at this season."

#HTownSpeedCity Series
> In the second meet of a three-meet series, Houston defended their home turf as they took first with 147 points.
> Cincinnati finished second with 110 points, followed by UCF (67), UTSA (62), Tulane (60), SMU (37), USF (31) and Temple (30).

Up Next
> The Owls will return to Houston on Saturday, Feb. 13 for another #HTownSpeedCity Series meet.