Stephanie McPherson Powell was a two-sport athlete, playing both women’s basketball and women’s outdoor track and field. She graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology with minors in Music and Spanish.
McPherson was a five-time Centennial Conference medalist in outdoor track and field, three-time conference champion in the 4x100-meter relay, and NCAA championship qualifier in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays.
McPherson is a part of three program records and two Centennial Conference records that have stood for over 20 years. Along with Thea Bayly Blackburn ’02, Jamie Falcone ’01, and Aleya Horn Kennedy ’01, she is part of a 23-year-old college and conference record in the 4x100-meter relay with a mark of 47.57 seconds set at Frostburg in 2000. The four also hold the meet record in the event with a time of 48.28 seconds at the Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on May 7, 2000, at Swarthmore.
In 2001, McPherson, Falcone, Melissa Merson ’03, and April Brown Johnson ’04 set the program record in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:42.78 at the prestigious Penn Relays. McPherson, Falcone, Blackburn, and Merson also set the program record in the 4x400-meter relay at the Penn Relays in 2001 with a time of 3:58.22.
Individually, McPherson ranks fourth in program history in the 200 meters (26.01 seconds), sixth in the 100 meters (12.64 seconds), and eighth in program history in the long jump (5.10 meters).
On the basketball court, McPherson was a member of McDaniel’s 2002 Centennial Conference championship team and holds the program record for single season games played (29) and single season steals per game by a first-year player (2.4).
McPherson is married to Teron Powell ’02, who was a three-sport standout in football, men’s basketball, and men’s outdoor track and field at McDaniel and inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.