Sprinter Desmond Howell has captured an All-New Jersey Athletic Conference honor on the track, earned an academic honor in the classroom and set a pair of Rutgers-Camden records during his time with the Scarlet Raptors’ track programs.
Program records (through 2019-20): Indoor Track – 600 Meters (1:26.07) at the TCNJ Indoor Open (Dec. 1, 2018); 1600-meter sprint medley (3:42.16) at the Wagner Seahawk Shootout (Dec. 7, 2018).
Academics: Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, 2018 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters…Dean’s List and one of 47 athletes on the 171-member 2020 Spring AD Honor Roll to post a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Outdoor Track 2020: Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indoor Track 2019-20: Competed in five meets, running distances from 55 meters to 400 meters individually and participating on a trio of relay teams…Set his PR in three events (55 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters)…In the first meet of the winter, the Fastrack Season Opener on Dec. 6, set a PR of 23.03 while finishing 23rd of 75 in the 200-meter dash and ran an ECAC qualifier in the 400-meter dash (a PR of 51.09) to finish 12th of 55…At the Wagner Seahawk Shootout (Dec. 13), finished 13th of 59 in the 300-meter dash (36.23) and helped the spring medley team place ninth of 12 (3:58.58)…Posted a PR time of 6.87 to finish seventh of 27 in the 55-meter dash at the Dutchmen Invitational (Jan. 17), while also placing fifth of 10 at 400 meters (56.57)…Finished 26th of 64 at 400 meters (54.74) and 11th of 13 with the 4x200 relay team (1:43.82) at the Frank Colden Invitational (Feb. 8)…Closed his season at the Susquehanna Invitational (Feb. 15), placing third of 42 runners in the 400-meter dash (52.22) and third of 16 with the 4x400 team (3:36.62).
Outdoor Track 2019: Competed in five meets, running four different events…Ran four ECAC qualifiers in the 400-meter dash before finishing seventh of 11 in that event with a 51.14 clocking at the ECAC Championships (May 16)...Ran a PR of 22.65 for an ECAC qualifier in the 200-meter dash preliminaries, placing sixth of 32, at the NJAC Championships (May 4)…In the NJAC finals (May 5), finished sixth of seven in the 200-meter dash (23.64) and finished 13th of 14 in that event (23.29) at the ECAC Championships (May 16)…On the first day of the ECAC Championships (May 15), helped the 4x400 team place sixth of nine squads with a 3:29.72 clocking…Placed second of 15 at 200 meters (23.31) and second of 17 at 400 meters (a PR of 50.23) at the season-opening Stockton Invitational (March 23)…Finished ninth of 19 at 800 meters (a PR of 2:08.00) at the Oscar Moore Open (April 5)…Set a PR of 3:24.78 in the 4x400 at the Coach P Invitational (April 13), where the team finished seventh of 23.
Indoor Track 2018-19: Competed in eight events over six indoor meets…Set program records in the 600-meter dash (1:26.07 at the TCNJ Open, Dec. 1) and with the 1,600 Sprint Medley Relay (3:42.16 at the Seahawk Shootout, Dec. 7)…In addition to those PRs, earned a PR of 3:28.73 in the 4x400 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships (Feb. 18), finishing second of 10 to capture NJAC Second Team recognition…Other PRs include 23.56 in the 200-meter dash (11th of 42 at the Moravian Invitational, Jan. 26), 35.93 in the 300-meter dash (fourth of 41 at the Seahawk Shootout, Dec. 7), 51.24in the 400-meter dash (18th of 111 at the Gotham Cup, Jan. 18), 1:07.27 in the 500-meter dash (third of 12 at the ECAC Championships, March 2) and 1:32.69 in the 4x200 (fifth of nine at the NJAC Championships, Feb. 18)…Finished among the top eight athletes in five of his eight individual competitions during the season, with his “lowest” finish coming in the 200-meter dash at the Jan. 18 Gotham Cup, when he placed 33rd of 77 athletes in a 23.6 clocking…Helped Rutgers-Camden’s relay teams to five Top 5 finishes in six races, with only a season-opening 11th-place finish out of 18 teams in the 4x400 (3:33.37 at the TCNJ Open, Dec. 1) spoiling that perfect mark…Busiest day on the track came at the Feb. 18 NJAC Championships when he placed sixth of 18 at 500 meters (1:08.84), was fifth of nine in the 4x200 (his PR of 1:32.69) and earned his NJAC Second Team honor finishing second of 10 with the 4x400 team (his PR of 3:28.73)…Ran ECAC qualifiers in four events (400 M, 500 M, 4x200 and 4x400) during the season…At the two-day ECAC Championships (March 1-2), competed in three events, finishing fifth of 11 in both the 4x200 (1:33.84) and the 4x400 (3:29.08) and third of 12 in the 500-meter dash (his PR of 1:07.27).
High School: Multi-sport letterman in football, indoor and outdoor track & field at Freehold Township High School…Graduated in 2016…Ran for Coach Todd Briggs…Was a sprint captain in his first season of track, as a senior, and an A-North meet champion in the spring season…Had never run track until his senior year, but scored in every meet and was his school’s top-ranked runner for the 55-, 100-, 200-, 300- and 400-meter dashes.
Club Team: Shore AC…“They’ve helped me get into competitive shape and race against Division 1, 2 and 3 athletes. I’ve managed to PR in every event as well. Some of the schools I competed against and came out victorious were Monmouth University, Manhattan College, Georgian Court, NYU, Rutgers, Rowan, Swarthmore, Misericordia, Johns Hopkins and East Stroudsburg.”
Personal: Born September 28, 1998…Nicknamed “Des”…Hobbies include writing, listening to music and being outdoors for training…Nursing major at Rutgers-Camden with a minor in Health Sciences…After graduation, plans to continue competing as an Olympic Development athlete…”I’ve made a tremendous amount of progress over the course of two months, going from a 54.5-second indoor 400-meter runner to a 49.7-second guy, thanks to my Olympic coaches Bob Andrews and Elliot Denman”…Desmond is the son of Omari and Natasha Howell of Freehold.
