Magnolia Howell (born 1993) is a former professional track and field

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er and current writer and fine artist. Representing

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

, she won the gold medal in the

4 × 400 metres 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

at the

2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships The 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The event served as classifiers for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and took place from July 15–17, 2011. It was the fourth time P ...

Biography

Born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

but raised in

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, Howell started running at eight years old. She moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

and attended Westside High School, where she was a state champion in both the 100 m and 200 m. In college she competed for the Long Beach State 49ers track and field team, setting a school record in the 4 × 100 metres while studying

print journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (prof ...

. After graduating, she began to focus more exclusively on running. At the

2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics The 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The event served as classifiers for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and took place from July 15–17, 2011. It was the fourth time ...

, Howell competed in the 4 × 100 m, 4 × 400 m, and individual 200 m for Trinidad and Tobago. In the 200 m, Howell did not qualify for the finals, but she won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay leading off for teammates

Michelle-Lee Ahye Michelle-Lee Raquel Ahye (last name rhyming with Lee, thus, ''ah-ee'') (born 10 April 1992) is a Trinidadian sprinter. She was the gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games She was part of Trinidad and Tobago's squad that finished fourth in ...

Ayanna Hutchinson Ayanna Hutchinson (born 18 February 1978) is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago. 1978 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago female sprinters Olympic athletes for Trinidad an ...

, and

Semoy Hackett Semoy Kee-Ann Hackett (born 27 November 1988) is a Tobagonian track and field sprint athlete who competed collegiately at Louisiana State University. Her personal best in the 100m is 11.09, and 22.49 in 200m. Hackett represented Trinidad and To ...

. Howell was the only athlete from that team to also compete in the 4 × 400 m finals, where her team won the bronze medal. At the 2012 NAAATT Trinidadian Olympic trials, Howell finished 6th in the 100 metres, narrowly missing an Olympic berth. In 2014, Howell began to train at

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under famed athletics and former

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coach Bobby Kersee. Following her professional rise, she competed in the

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and

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IAAF World Relays, both times representing Trinidad and Tobago in the 4 × 400 m. At both championships, Howell's team finished 4th in the 'B' finals, posting an overall best mark of 3:33.21 at the 2014 edition. Howell competed at the 2016 NAAATT Trials in the 400 m, but did not qualify for the 'A' final and missed out on another Olympic team spot. Following this setback, Howell took a year off from the sport and started an art company
Art On The Run
before moving to

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to be coached by Darryl Woodson in preparation for the 2020 Olympic cycle. She stated that one of her goals was to break Janeil Bellille's Trinidadian record in the 400 m of 51.83 seconds. After the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

of 2020 postponed the Olympics back one year, Howell retired from the sport and focused exclusively on writing and art. As an artist under the pen name Magnolia Lafleur, she has shown her work in Los Angeles-area galleries and has sold to international clients. As a journalist, she is a member of the

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and has worked for the

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, the Grunion Gazette, the Long Beach Post, the

Palisadian-Post The ''Palisadian-Post'' is a weekly subscription newspaper serving Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. Pacific P ...

, and the Orange County Register.

Statistics

Personal bests

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Magnolia Living people 1983 births Trinidad and Tobago female sprinters 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago sportswomen Long Beach State Beach women's track and field athletes Trinidad and Tobago women artists Trinidad and Tobago women journalists American sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Sportspeople from Guadalajara, Jalisco