Another event, another record for Amanda Cole.
The senior headlined another solid showing for the men’s and women’s track and field teams at the Gotham Cup last Friday at the New York City Armory, as she broke the school record in the weight throw and placed first in the shot put.
In addition, freshman Travis Mahoney broke the school record in the 3,000-meter for the men’s team, while sophomore Joshua Louis finished third in the high jump, which hit Eastern College Athletic Conference standards.
For the women, sophomore Paris Williams paced the 500-meter and sophomore Assata Cowart won the 800-meter.
Cole, who entered the competition as one of the Atlantic Ten Conference’s Performers of the Week, set a new Temple record in the weight throw at 54-9 3/4, breaking her previous mark of 41-8 3/4 set at the Jack Pyrah Invitational to meet ECAC standards. At the Cup, the two-time Performer and Athlete of the Week continued her success by placing first in the event, breaking her own record and notching her third victory in three meets.
“My goal for every indoor and outdoor season opener is always to improve on my record from the previous season and qualify for ECACs,” Cole said. “Being able to do this early in the season takes away the pressure and allows me to be able to go into each meet after that and just throw without having to think about making a certain distance. I can think about just throwing far. It also makes it easy to focus on other goals such as qualifying for other postseason meets.”
Louis, who was the A-10 Performer of the Week on the men’s side, also finished 15th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.31 seconds.
“I had a pretty good day of running and jumping, but I do plan on making a few minor adjustments [for next meet],” he said. “If you get too tied up in the mental aspect, then you forget that the overall key to success and winning is to have fun doing it. It’s a mind game. Prepare yourself mentally, and anything is possible.”
Williams, who won A-10 Indoor Track Rookie of the Week last week, was the top collegiate finisher in the 500-meter and secured third in the 4 x 400 meter relay with a time of 3 minutes, 58.55 seconds.
“I am trying to be a leader this year, and as one of the successful athletes on the team, I [am trying] to motivate my teammates toward an A-10 Championship,” Williams said. “We have a lot of talented freshmen this year that will help our team, and I am trying to be an example to them so that they can see that hard work pays off.”
Like Williams, sophomore Tim Boeni also has confidence in his fellow squad. The IC4A qualifier, who led the Owls at last season’s A-10 Championships with his second place finish in the long jump, finished seventh in the event at the Gotham Cup at 6.92 meters.
“The team this year is still very young, but a lot of us have a lot of experience in competing against some of the best track athletes in the country,” he said. “It makes competing much less stressful knowing there are strictly sprinters with a lot of potential and a bunch of jumpers with a lot of potential. If I don’t perform well one meet, I know there are other guys ready to pick up the slack.”
But there was no slack, as both Owls teams combined for 31 Top 10 finishes at the Gotham Cup. Next up for the team is the Terrier Classic in Boston on Jan. 23 and 24.
Joe Polinsky can be reached at joe.polinsky@temple.edu.
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