TOWSON, Md. – The last regular season meet for the Towson University women's indoor track & field team has arrived as the Tigers travel to Staten Island, New York on Friday, Feb. 15.

Towson will compete in the FastTrack Last Chance Invitational.

The meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. inside the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.

"This will be one of the opportunities for us to all compete all together as a team, which I'm looking forward to," said head coach Mike Jackson.

"It's one of the last chances for our student-athletes to compete during indoors prior to ECAC Championships at a great venue in New York with family and fans," said Jackson.  "We are looking forward to great performances which I'm confident will happen."

For seniors like Jaina McLean, the excitement to go back and relive memories of last season is a goal.
"I am super excited to go back to Staten Island," said McLean. "My very first time qualifying for ECACs was at this exact meet just a year ago."

"I got a lot of recognition from many people across campus as well as alumni after that race congratulating me. Ocean Breeze is my favorite indoor track, and even though I already qualified for indoor ECACs in the 60m dash, I'm hoping I still can better my time."

After tying a school record at the very first indoor meet and reaching personal-records at the meet last week, McLean is looking forward to improving her times and hoping to qualify in the 100m dash at ECACs.

"Getting a PR in any event is an amazing feeling, especially when you have this mental block in your head thinking you peaked this season, said McLean.

"It lets me know that despite having minor injuries along the way, they aren't setting me back as much as I thought they would. My expectations going forward are to score in the 100m dash at the conference meet and qualify for outdoor ECACs in the 100."

Coverage 
For live stats: http://sidearmstats.com/obp/results/index.htm
 
Last Time Out
The Tigers competed in the two day Music City Classic hosted by Vanderbilt Feb 8-9. On day one, Liz Reid ran a time of 24.81 in the 200-meters and teammate Crystal Johnson ran a personal-record of 24.87. Taylor Giles had a throw of 17.70m (58'1") in the weight throw. Michella Obijiaku threw 17.29m (56'8").
 
On day two, Helnsarah Penda ran a time of 7.92 in the 60-meter dash. In the 60-meter hurdles, Victoria Jones-Alleyne and Penda had preliminary times of 8.83 and 8.84 respectively. Hayley Horvath placed eighth in pole vault, 3.88m (12'8").
 
In her first collegiate meet with the Tigers, Michella Obijiaku set a personal-record of 15.35m (50'4.5") in shot put. Phontavia Sawyer also threw 14.72m (48'3.5") in shot put.
 
Student-Spotlight
Each week, Towson showcases the student-athletes in a brief video on Twitter and Towson Sports Network. The spotlight is to promote and highlight the student-athlete accomplishments on and off the court/field and in the classroom. On Thursday, Jan. 17 the spotlight was on junior Victoria Jones-Alleyne, who in addition to being on the track team works with special need kids over the summer premiered. To watch, click the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHQ319lBnlw 

Tigers after Towson
Over the summer, Towson University learned that recent graduate Megan Kelly joined the USA Olympic Bobsledding team. Kelly was a part of the track and field team all four years at Towson, competing in both indoor and outdoor seasons. Most recently, she broke the outdoor record in the 4x400-meter relay and 400-meter hurdles. She was nominated and won Towson Strength and Conditioning award, won the Towson Senior Achievement award and won the Towson SGA Leadership in Athletic Award. She was Student Athlete of the Year in 2017 too.
 
Setting School Records

• Crystal Johnson set a new school record in the 60m dash with a time of 7.57 at Virginia Tech (Jan.11).
• Liz Reid set a new school record at the Virginia Tech Invitational (Jan. 11) in the 300 with a time of 39.16.
• Hayley Horvath set a new school record in the pole vault jumping 3.99m (13'1'') at the Penn State National (Jan. 27).

 
Tigers in the Community

• Towson is the Division I national champion of the NCAA Team Works Helper Helper Competition for the fall 2018 semester. Towson completed the most community service hours among all schools in the competition, including 75 different Division I departments and approximately 300 total programs across the country.
• Five student-athletes are participating in the Polar Bear Plunge tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 25 to help raise money for the Special Olympics.
• The team helped with serving food in the Tiger Zone during the James Madison football game on Nov. 18.
• Orchestrated by Reid, the elementary education major had the Tigers go to Logan Elementary School on Oct. 12 along with the cross country team to talk to the students about attending college. "I was able to co-organize a student athlete assembly for the 5th graders and it was awesome to have the team come get involved in the community," said Reid.

 
Up Next
Select Tigers will compete at the ECAC DI Indoor Championships from March 3-4 in Boston, Mass.