Howard excels both on the field and in class
By Jamie Howell/ Student Publications
Chaunte Howard won the national title in the women’s high jump at the NCAA National Championships with a clear of 6'4.00". Howard has won back-to-back national titles and will participate in the Olympic trials coming up next month.
Chaunte Howard has always set her goals high. The current Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Champion in the high jump has always had aspirations to compete and win a gold medal in the Olympics one day.
Growing up in California, Chaunte says that she always wanted to run, but did not start competing in high jump until freshman year of high school. Howard was a seven-time prep national champion while winning the indoor and outdoor high jump national championships in 2001 and 2002.
J.W. North High School won the California state titles in 1999, 2000, 2002 and the 2001 national title while Howard competed. In addition to jumping, Chaunte garnered All-American honors in the triple jump, 4x100 relay, 4x200, and 4x400 relay teams. All of these feats were accomplished while being a member of the National Honor Society.
Howard’s journey to Atlanta began when she received a call from assistant coach Nat Page and decided to do a little research on Tech’s women’s track and field program. After making a recruiting visit, Chaunte decided to travel cross-country from Riverside, CA to attend Tech.
“I fell in love with the school and knew I wanted to be here,” Howard said.
The track star admits her freshman year was tough being so far away from home, but after a semester she became more comfortable with her surroundings.
“I was extremely homesick, but I had my teammates and made friends. It went away during my second semester,” says Howard.
As a freshman, Chaunte introduced herself to the ACC by winning the indoor and outdoor championships with jumps of 6'0.0” each. The California native also finished third in the triple jump at the ACC Indoor event and finished sixth in the long jump. Tech’s 4x200 meter relay team, with the aid of Howard, set a new school mark at the Penn Relays. On the national level Chaunte was a runner-up while collecting All-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
A successful freshman campaign was followed by an even more successful sophomore season. Howard won the NCAA Indoor Championships with a mark of 6'3.5", breaking the Yellow Jackets old record. Chaunte won a total of 6 meets in the high jump event, including her second-straight ACC crown.
More records were to be broken in the outdoor season by the sophomore. At the Outdoor ACC Championships, Howard set a new ACC and Georgia Tech record with an Olympic Qualifying Standard mark of 6'4.75” while earning her fourth straight ACC crown. Chaunte also set personal marks in the long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles. Currently, Howard holds both the top high jump mark in the outdoor for the NCAA and ranks third in the United States. For all her performances, the All-American was named the ACC Performer of the Year and awarded a total of seven All-ACC honors.
It may seem Howard has a lot of individual awards, but she also strives very hard to help out her team. Georgia Tech’s women’s Track and Field team finished tied 15th place at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, their highest finish ever. A total of seven Tech athletes won All-American honors, the highest ever by a Tech squad.
“I am really proud I was able to work hard and do this [high jump champion] for our team; we worked hard and it paid off.”
Howard’s goals while at Tech are not solely focused on track. “I want other athletes in the country to know that you can excel academically and athletically [at Tech],” says Howard.
Next up for Howard is the Olympic Trials in Sacramento July 9-14. She hopes she can qualify in the high jump for U.S Olympic Team and reach her goals of winning a gold medal.
