Full Results
AUSTIN, Texas – Junior Olivia Howell completed the 2023 Illinois track and field season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday, June 10. She placed eighth in the 1500m national finals on a season-best time, 4:11.54.
She earned her first outdoor All-American honor and is now a 3x All-American (2022 - Mile // 2023 - 1500m & Mile). She's the first Illini woman outdoor All-American since Pedrya Seymour placed eighth in the 100m hurdles in 2017. Howell placed the Illinois women's team 63rd overall with her point and it's the highest finish since 2015 (35th).
"With the collegiate season over, this closed out a year full of learning experiences and very sensible program improvements," said Director of Track, Field and Cross Country Petros Kyprianou. "This NCAA Outdoor Championships was no different as we had almost three times as many athletes qualify than last year; with a handful of 13th place finishes in the NCAA West Preliminaries too."
Howell closed on a stellar junior season highlighted by her NCAA National Title in the Mile (4:34.00) that is now the Albuquerque Convention Center facility record. She climbed up to second on the program's 800m leaderboard (2:02.50) ran at the UNF East Coast Relays. She lead the women's team to their highest team finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in a decade with a team-high 18 points.
"With the exception of veteran Olivia Howell everyone else was experiencing this high level for the first time ever. All of them admittedly reported with pride that they learned a lot and now the level of expectations has risen. I'm proud of our student-athletes that have bought in to this intense expectation of excellence both on the field and in the classroom. Now we reset, recharge and come back stronger next year!"
NOTES
- Olivia Howell placed eighth in the 1500m national finals (4:11.54), season-best and All-American.
- Illinois women finished t-63rd (1 point), highest finish since 2015 (35th).
