Troy University Athletics
Johnson Makes Troy History at Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship
2/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Monique Johnson broke the Sun Belt Conference 55 high hurdle record in the preliminaries, then ran the fastest time in the finals Sunday to become the first Trojan to capture an SBC individual title at the leagues's Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Her performance helped the Trojans to a seventh-place finish in the team standings, just 8.25 points out of fifth.
Johnson ran times of 7.82 in the preliminaries and 7.86 in the finals.Teammate Juzil Rudolph, who was also in the middle of the pentathlon competition,ran a lifetime best 8.10 to finish behind Johnson and capture the silver medal in the event. Johnson's times move her to 22nd in the country in the event and provisionally qualify her for the NCAA Championships schedule to be held at the University of Arkansas on March 9-10.
Rudolph had a record-setting performance in the Pentathlon as she finished third overall with a school record-3531 points, besting a mark Johnson set earlier this season. Rudolph also captured fifth place in the long jump with an effort of 18-feet, 7-inches.
Sophomore Agata Cichozewska surprised a strong field with a silver medal performance in the triple jump. With a lifetime best indoor jump of 12.18 meters (39-feet, 11.5-inches), She finished second behind SBC record holder Brandi Standfield from North Texas. Cichozewska, who ranked fifth in the conference going into the championships.
Another strong performance came from freshman Tiphanie Baker. The former Leeds High School star became the first Lady Trojan to score points in the throws when her toss of 42-feet, 11-inches (second best of her career) earned an eighth-place finish. The following day, her toss of 50-feet, 4-inches in the 20# weight broke the 2004 school record of Takia Shoats and earned her a seventh-place finish, just ahead of teammate Monique Jordan, whose throw of 50-feet also exceeded the old school record.
Freshman Martyna Pietryka also performed well in her first Sun Belt Conference meet. In the Distance Medley Relay she gave the Trojans a substantial lead on the first leg of the event, running her 1200 meters in 3:42. The team comprised of Pietryka, Jocelyn Williams, Laide Onikoyi and Jenean Corcoran held on for a fifth place finish in the very strong field. Running in the "slow heat" Pietryka ran the mile in 5:16.76 and had to wait for the "fast heat" to finish before she found out she'd finished fifth overall in that event, missing the school record set by Kelly Heinzman in 2000 by less than 2/10ths of a second.
Other point scoring efforts for Troy included Erin Clymer in the Pentathlon (8th place), Tawanna Meadows in the 55-meter (6th) and 200-meter (7th) dashes, and the mile relay team of Williams, Johnson, Onikoyi and Meadows (3:58.95) which placed seventh.
"I was really proud of the ladies this weekend," said Head Women's Coach Jill Lancaster. "They laid it on the line. Our point total was 16 higher than last year and we moved up a notch in the team standings. We have our first Sun Belt Champion, conference record-holder and NCAA indoor qualifier in Monique.
"Juzil Rudolph proved she is an iron lady as she competed in seven events during the two days and walked away with two medals, which is also a first for our program."
This coming weekend a select group of women will be traveling to LSU for a "Last Chance" NCAA Indoor qualifying meet while the men travel to South Alabama to open up their outdoor season.
