News Americas, PHILADELHPIA, PA, Thurs. April 23, 2015: A Jamaican-born athlete who has taken the track of the Penn Relays in Philadelphia for at least seven times, is getting ready to do it again, this time for a South Carolina University.
Natoya Goule will to the tracks of the Ben Franklin Field for another year this April 23-25 but this time Clemson University as she goes for the 800 meters.
The 5’3″ Clemson senior and NCAA indoor 800-meter champion ran at Penn for four years with Manchester High School of Clarendon of Jamaica.
“The first time I heard of the Penn Relays was when I went to Manchester High,” said the communication studies major. “It was important to us kids. All of us compete against each other in Jamaica, then we come to the Penn Relays and it’s a bigger thing. You compete against U.S. athletes and athletes from other countries, from around the world.”
She then ran twice for the Louisiana State University. While sitting out one year after transferring from LSU to Clemson she represented Jamaica in the USA vs. the World women’s sprint medley relay.
Now she’s getting ready to do it for her new school.
Goule broke the NCAA indoor championship meet record in March, winning the event in 2:01.64, breaking a record set by Hazel Clark of Tennessee (2:01.77) 16 years ago. It was her third career NCAA crown, adding to the two she won in 2013 at LSU.
Goule also propelled the Tigers to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 4×400 relay and was named Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Track Co-Athlete of the Week and Indoor Track Performer of the Year and Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA.
Goule also posted the nation’s fastest time in the 800 meters recently at the Pepsi Florida Relays, finishing in 2:01.63. She finished second behind professional Chanelle Price, but was the top collegiate finisher after setting a relays record in the event.
Her time is the national leader so far this outdoor season. Goule later anchored the 4×400 relay to a runner-up finish and time of 3:31.89, No. 3 in Clemson history and No. 4 on the national performance list. The group set a school record in the final.
Now she’s hoping to make history for Clemson at Penn. Clemson’s women have won only one Penn Relays Championship of America, the sprint medley relay in 1992. And if the Tigers have some sprinters to get the baton to the anchor in good shape, there may be a second one after those final 800 meters on April 25th thanks to Goule.
