St. John's runner earns top athlete honours at Simon Fraser University
Jeremy Eaton | CBC News | Posted: April 9, 2018 8:30 AM | Last Updated: April 9, 2018
Julia Howley named Lorne Davies Athlete of the Year at the B.C. school
Distance runner Julia Howley capped off an impressive season by being named one of the Lorne Davies Athletes of the Year at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
Golfer Chris Crisologo was the other athlete to earn the trophy.
The 21-year-old from St. John's didn't expect to hear her name called at the school's year-end banquet honouring it's top athletes.
"I was really excited just to be associated with those other girls who were nominated," Howley said in a phone interview from SFU's Burnaby, B.C. campus.
"[It was] a huge honour, and very unexpected."
The university is a long way from home, and Howley has questioned the time and effort she's put into running, wondering if it was all worth it.
"Things started to align and these past couple of seasons have been amazing," she said.
"I've gotten more out of it than I ever could have anticipated, and I think this award really capped it off very nicely."
Howley, who is studying sustainable business, put up some impressive numbers in the cross country running season.
She qualified for three different national championships and was a four-time All-American, leading her cross country team to its first-ever unbeaten regular season and a 10th place finish at nationals.
Howley finished 15th at cross country nationals, the second highest placing ever by a Simon Fraser University runner.
On the track, Howley finshed ninth in the outdoor 1,500 m and 12th in the indoor 3,000 m at the NCAA championships.
"I think it also speaks to the depths and the whole work ethic of our program," she said.
"Without my teammates supporting me and pushing me at practice I wouldn't be able to do what I've done this year."