Former track star advances in track and field championships

On Friday, Travis Mahoney certainly proved he can perform on the big stage.

The former Temple cross country and track & field member advanced to the final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the USA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, IO, crossing with a mark of 8:38.67 and a sixth place finish overall. Mahoney placed top-5 in his heat, giving him the nod for a spot in the final on Sunday.

After a four-plus year running career as a Temple standout, Mahoney took his talents to the national stage this past year, running for the NJ/NY track & field club and other various track & field events around the country.

Mahoney racked up numerous individual awards in a Temple jersey, including seven Atlantic-10 Conference individual championships, three A-10 three A-10 Outstanding Performer of the Year awards, Mid-Atlantic Athlete of the Year and three NCAA All-American titles.

The steeplechase final will represent Mahoney’s first crack at a USA track & field championship race, and will start Sunday at 4:55 p.m. ET

Mahoney named USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year

Off the heels of his first-place finish at last weekend’s regional race, redshirt senior Travis Mahoney has been named Mid-Atlantic Regional Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, it was announced Tuesday.

Mahoney, who is the first regional champion in school history, is having a career year in cross country having also won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships last month. His win there catapulted the men’s team to a program-best 4th place finish. Mahoney has already been named A-10 Outstanding Performer of the Year, and has been awarded the same title in track & field three times in his career.

Mahoney will look to become the first cross country All-American in Temple history when he competes in the NCAA Championship in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 19.

Avery Maehrer

Mahoney places first at regionals, qualifies for nationals

Redshirt senior Travis Mahoney won the men’s 8K NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional earlier today at Penn State, just two weeks after winning the Atlantic 10 Championship.

Mahoney’s finish qualifies him for the NCAA Championships, which will be held on Nov. 19 at Louisville University. The race will mark his final meet as a Temple Owl.

Mahoney last raced in the regional event during his junior year when he placed 66th overall. He is the first regional champion in the eight years the program has participated since being brought back to the university in 2005.

-Avery Maehrer

Cross country set to host A-10 Championships

The men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the rest of the Atlantic 10 Conference Saturday morning at Belmont Plateau in the A-10 Championships, the program’s final one before moving to the Big East Conference next season.

Having the meet at Temple’s practice course is an advantage coach Adam Bray hopes will be “huge.”

“I expect that it’s going to be pretty muddy and sloppy,” Bray said. “It’s been wet the past couple weeks, and there have been high school meets there so it’s being run on. That’s another advantage that goes in our favor because we know what the course has to offer, and we’ve done workouts on it.”

Junior Will Kellar, who led the team at last year’s A-10’s in Charlotte with a 36th place finish, voiced a similar opinion to that of Bray’s. Additionally, he is glad the team doesn’t have to travel as far as it has in years past.

“I think it’s going to be to our benefit to race there,” Kellar said. “We’ve been training there, pretty much all semester. And not only have we been training there, but it’s so close. It’s really convenient for us to not have to travel half way across the state or up and down the East Coast to get to the meet.”

Senior Rayna Kratchman says the team is looking to make more of an impact at this year’s race.

“I think definitely being a senior and the other runners on our team are very motivated to have the best race of our time at Temple and to hopefully do the best that we have at A-10’s thus far because we haven’t really made that impact on A-10’s yet,” Kratchman said. “But I think this year we’re going to come through and prepare for the Big East, and show that we’re ready.”

Redshirt senior Travis Mahoney and sophomore Jenna Dubrow have led their teams in every race they have participated in this year, and are the favorites to do so again tomorrow.

Last year’s A-10’s were won by La Salle on both the men’s and women’s sides, while Temple placed 10th and 12th, respectively.

The women’s 5k race will kick off at 10 a.m., while the men’s 8k is set for a 10:45 a.m. start time.

Avery Maehrer