Boise State Alum, Marisa Howard, had a not so traditional route to the 2024 Paris Olympics. From collegiate competitions, to school nursing, to motherhood, to qualifying for the Olympics — Howard has done it all.
Howard at Boise State:
Howard left quite the mark at Boise State, when competing on the cross country team from 2010-2015. She excelled in the 3000m steeplechase which has 28 hurdled barriers and seven water jumps.
While at Boise, she earned an impressive amount of titles including: 2x NCAA First Team All American, 2x Mountain West Champion, 2x NCAA Preliminary Round Qualifier and NCAA National Championships Qualifier.
Howard and her teammate, Emma Bates, became the first female Broncos to earn All-American honors in the same season.
In her redshirt sophomore year, Marisa took 25 seconds off her previous best time and has continued to push herself to rise in the ranks ever since.
Post Collegiate Journey:
After graduating with a nursing degree in 2015, Marisa became a school nurse whilst continuing to pursue her dream of competing in the Olympics. Following an injury in 2016, Howard was desperate to get healthy again.
Her solution was to turn to former (and now returning) Boise State Coach, Pat McCurry, who has personally coached 21 Olympic Trial Qualifiers and five Olympic Championship Qualifiers.
This sparked the beginning of an eight year partnership that helped shape Marisa into the athlete she is today.
She went on to compete in the World Championships in 2017 as well as the Pan American Games in 2019 and 2023. Unfortunately in 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic postponed Howard’s aspiration to compete in the Olympics.
Despite this dream being put on pause, Howard continued to train until she welcomed another dream: motherhood. Marisa became pregnant with her son, Kai, in 2021. Within a year after giving birth, Howard bounced back to training for the 2024 Olympics.
Olympic Trials to Olympics:
Howard finished third at the Olympic Trials with a personal best time of 9:07.14, securing her spot on team USA. She competed in the 2024 Paris games as 1 of 3 U.S. competitors in the 3000m steeplechase.
Howard made history as the first female Boise State alum to compete in the U.S. Track & Field Olympic Team. She finished seventh place in her steeplechase heat with a time of 9:24.78, 7.39 seconds shy of fifth place.
Future Plans:
Marisa Howard is now pursuing her masters degree in nutrition and human performance and is set to join Boise State’s Track & Field staff as assistant coach alongside Head Coach, Pat McCurry. McCurry is looking forward to what the former Olympian will bring to the team.
“The biggest thing that I’m excited about is her being a really healthy mentor for our women’s distance runners, to have someone that is at the absolute, top world class level, that has managed to do it in a healthy way, with good life, athletics, balance and stay healthy,” McCurry said. “Marisa has had one injury in the last seven years now, which, at her level, is a remarkably low rate.”
So what will success look like for the upcoming track and field season at Boise State?
“Our biggest shift in philosophy is we really want to be team, track and field focused, meaning, we’re trying to build a program here over the next, one, two, three years, that can contend for Mountain West team championships and be really balanced,” said McCurry. “But another more important part of success is that our student athletes have an elite experience. We want their experience to be success, not the other way around. We’re trying to create the best student athlete experience out there, and we believe that will build a culture that will get competitive success.”
