On a dreary day, Temple’s track teams made the best of the cloudy backdrop, turning in some of the best times in the Atlantic 10 Conference at the Penn Invitational last weekend.
The best performances on the day came from Edith Lewis, Aderonke Adeniyi, Jonathan Albright, the women’s hurdle crew, and the women’s 4 x 100 meter relay.
The 4 x 100 meter relays started the Owls off on the right note, with the women placing first in 47.41 seconds.
The team ran the second fastest time in the conference, an impressive showing despite the weather.
Lewis continued her success, placing second in the long jump and first in the triple jump.
Adeniyi came into the meet with strong performances during the indoor season and so far has continued on the same path in her outdoor campaign.
Adeniyi finished second in the 200-meter with a time of 25.15, and second in the 100-meter at 12.44.
With some of the top hurdlers in the conference, the Owls had no problem taking charge in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
Temple took all but one of the top four places in the event.
Leading the way for Temple was sophomore Jessica Dunston with a winning time of 14.30. Rachel Clinton (14.82) and Jaweia Campbell (15.17) rounded out the top four, finishing second and fourth, respectively.
On the men’s side, Albright had a solid showing on hurdles, which he was quite happy about.
“This is the first meet that I trained for the 400-meter hurdles so I felt better than in Carolina,” he said.
Albright started his day running the 110-meter hurdles, finishing seventh at 15.18.
Later in the day, Albright ran the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 56.12.
Head coach George Phillips was pleased with some of the performances, taking into account the conditions on the day.
“Some of the kids ran well in the colder weather but I’m disappointed that some of kids let the weather get to them,” he said.
Junior Samantha Porter was not one of the runners who were affected by the weather.
Last year at this time, Porter started out with a 58-second 400-meter run. This year, in 50-degree weather at Franklin Field, Porter improved that time to 57.37, good enough for third place.
Overall, Phillips felt it was a good meet for the Owls and was pleased to come away with some of the top times in the A-10.
“They showed a lot of heart today,” he said.
Saudia Mitchell can be reached at saudrae@hotmail.com.
Be the first to comment