One of life's early lessons helped propel former Tiger track star Ashley Adams White over a hurdle and into record books, earning her an induction into Towson University's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Joining Ashley are Shanae Baker-Brice (basketball), Christina Boarman (field hockey), Roger Dickens (basketball) and Decelia Willacy (gymnastics) in the Class of 2025 to be honored at the Hall of Fame's 61^st Annual Induction Banquet to be held October 10^th on campus in the University Union. The 2010-11 women's swimming team will also be recognized as the Team of Distinction. . (For tickets go to: https://towsonuniversity.regfox.com/towson-athletics-tiger-honors-hall-of-fame-induction-2025)

Ashley's interest in track began in elementary school in Plainfield, N.J. As a 4^th grader she could only stare up at a hurdle but as soon as her athletic prowess allowed, she started clearing them in championship form. "I played around with them in middle school but in high school I got serious about it," Ashley says. "I looked at hurdles as the obstacles or difficulties that life presents to you and made the decision to perfect how I clear them."

Records and accolades piled up for her at Plainfield High School. She dominated the 60m indoor hurdles and the 100 and 400 outdoor hurdles at the conference, sectional and state levels. She was a three-time outdoor conference champion, state sectional and state group champion, three-time All-Area, All-County and All-Conference first team indoor and outdoor pick in the hurdles, and as a senior, first team All-State.

Through the split training option Ashley enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves while a junior in high school. That commitment led to her initially enroll in Morgan State. "It was one of the closest and biggest HBCU's talked about in the area I grew up in and I thought it would be an amazing opportunity," she said. "Also, I still needed to fulfill my military obligations the summer prior to my collegiate studies. A lot of colleges I applied to did not accept that contract, but Morgan State was one of the few in the area that would."

However, there was inter-state contractual confusion between New Jersey and Maryland that resulted in her military service ending in late 2008. After her sophomore year at MSU she opted to transfer to Towson.

"I transferred to Towson University because I had seen that academics were held at a higher standard than athletics," Ashley said. "That fit my end goal. I was thinking about my future. I wanted to make sure that it would be set up better than my previous years."

While working on a degree in Family Science, Ashley found time to break seven Towson records (3 outdoors, 4 indoors) and was a member of the Tigers' record-setting 4x100 relay team as a junior. She became the first Tiger to be named CAA Female Athlete of the Year in track and field after recording the top marks of any 2011 CAA athlete in the 100 hurdles (13.55), 400 hurdles (59.60) and the heptathlon with 4,910 points (which remains a program record).

She broke the conference meet record in the 100 hurdles (13.66) and was just .04 seconds shy of the record in the 400 hurdles. She qualified for the NCAA Regionals in both events. In her senior year she ran away with the coveted pentathlon title symbolic of the Eastern College Athletic Conference's best all-around female indoor track athlete, compiling a school record 3,858 points to become the first Tiger to capture the honor. Her pentathlon record is still the program's best. As of her induction, Ashley remains the top hurdler of all-time at Towson with her 8.43 for the 60 meter indoors and her 13.48 for the 100 meter outdoors. She still holds the school record in the indoor long jump at 5.93m and ranks among Towson's top 10 in the 800m run (7^th), 400m hurdles (3^rd) and the outdoor long jump (3^rd). To date six of Ashley's program records are still intact.

After she exhausted her eligibility Ashley served as a volunteer assistant coach on Roger Erricker's staff while completing her undergraduate degree. Later, after returning to New Jersey, she helped coach an AAU track and field team, eventually becoming a certified level one coach. "I tried to stay a part of the track and field world as much as possible outside of competing," Ashley said.