Troy University Athletics
Trojans Head to Indoor Championships
2/27/2009 6:00:00 AM | Track & Field
JONESBORO, Ark. - The Troy University women's indoor track and field program will wrap its conference portion of the indoor season this weekend at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on the campus of Arkansas State University. The two-day event will begin Saturday, February 28 and wrap up on Sunday, March 1.
The Trojans track and field program has participated in three meets this season to prepare them for the conference meet and have several athletes in the conference's Top 10.
Senior Agata Cichoszewska will lead the Trojans into the meet having jumped an NCAA provisional mark of 12.70 meters at the Tiger Paw Invitational two weeks ago at Clemson University. The mark places her second in the conference, trailing only Middle Tennessee's Sarah Nambawa who jumped a mark of 13.62 meters at the Middle Tennessee Valentine Invitational the same weekend.
The senior has twice been named the Sun Belt Conference Female Field Athlete of the Week, as voted on by the media relations contacts around the conference for track and field. The mark of 12.70 meters shattered the previous mark of 12.33 meters set by Sherion Taylor in 2002. Cichoszewska held the top spot just one week before with a jump of 12.67 meters at the Tiger Indoor Invitational hosted by Sewanee.
Junior Tiphanie Baker is in the Top 10 in the conference in a pair of events, and will look to score points and possibly medal in the shot put and the 20-lb. weight throw. She currently ranks ninth in the shot put with a distance of 13.21 meters at the Tiger Indoor Invitational, just 0.27 meters away from being the fourth-best throw in the Sun Belt Conference. She is also fifth in the 20-lb. weight throw in the conference this season with a distance of 16.71 meters at the Tiger Paw Invitational a couple of weeks back.
Baker's mark of 16.71 meters in the 20-lb. weight throw is a new school record and her mark in the shot put is just 0.11 meters off the school record in that event.
Sophomore Latoya Ragland is in the Top 10 in two events this season, in the field and on the track. Ragland is currently eighth in the long jump with a top distance this season of 5.63 meters at the season opening meet - the Blue Raider Invitational. The distance is good enough for third all-time in school history in the event. Meanwhile, on the track, Ragland is ranked third in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.99 seconds at the Tiger Indoor Invitational. The mark is just 0.11 seconds off the fastest time of the season in the conference, set by North Texas' Alysha Adams in Houston on February 7 (7.88). Her time in that event shatters the school record of 8.15 seconds set by current assistant coach Monique Johnson.
Other athletes who are in the Top 10 in the Sun Belt Conference this season include senior Monique Jordan in the 20-lb. weight throw with a distance of 15.93 meters. The mark puts her eighth in the conference heading into the conference championships and is the second-longest throw in school history to date. Newcomers Kapri Hockaday and Nicole Polk are making their marks in the high jump and pole vault respectively. Hockaday recorded a jump of 1.68 meters at the Tiger Paw Invitational which is the fifth-best mark in the conference this season and is the second best jump in school history; while Polk cleared a height of 3.20 meters at the Blue Raider Invitational which is the eighth-best mark in the conference and a new school record for the freshman.
The meet gets started with the high jump at 10 am on Saturday morning in Jonesboro. Live scoring for the championships can be accessed by clicking here.
