Troy University Athletics
Trojans Finish Seventh at Championships
5/11/2009 1:45:00 PM | Track & Field
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Both the men's and women's track and field teams from Troy University finished seventh overall in the team standings at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend at Blue Raider Field, on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
The men finished seventh with a total of 65 points, just 7.5 points away from sixth and nine points away from a fifth-place finish; meanwhile, the women finished seventh with 65.60 points. Junior Tiphanie Baker was tied with two other female student-athletes as the top female scorer at this year's Sun Belt Conference Championships. She finished tied with Zamzam Sangau of Middle Tennessee and Paola Reategui of FIU with 26 points overall.
Juniors Leander McKenzie and Baker claimed conference championships on Sunday, in events that they were the favorites in upon entering the meet.
McKenzie went into the 110-meter hurdles as the fastest in the conference and did not disappoint in a fast final. The junior finished with a time of 14.06 seconds, just 0.03 seconds ahead of Middle Tennessee State's Roscoe Payne.
Meanwhile, Baker claimed her second individual championship at the conference meet on Sunday with a victory in the hammer throw. Having all ready broke the stadium and championship record in the discus on Friday, Baker won the hammer with a throw of 54.31 meters. The distance was 0.65 meters than second-place Alana Tyler of North Texas.
"Tiphanie led the event from the first throw on Sunday," assistant coach Chip Brundage said. "She did very well, and we are very proud of her for her performance this weekend."
Senior Lamar Hicks saved his best performance of the season in the 100-meter dash on Sunday at the championships. After struggling for most of the season, the senior qualified for the NCAA Regionals in his third event with a time of 10.49 seconds in the event. The time was good enough to win a bronze medal and he was just 0.05 seconds away from a silver, finishing just behind ULM's Luther Ambrose. Antonio McLeod also ran in the event, finishing sixth with a time of 10.66 seconds. Both runners have qualified for the NCAA Regionals as part of the 4x100-meter relay team.
In the men's 200-meter dash, Hicks finished out of medal contention with a time of 21.37 seconds. The time put him fifth overall in an event that he qualified for the NCAA Regionals earlier this season. In the other sprint event on the day for the Trojans, junior Matavis Madden missed an NCAA Regional qualifying time with a seventh-place finish in the event and a time of 48.41; missing the qualifying time by just over a second.
Senior Denzel Ramirez joined the previous three student-athletes in scoring for the Trojans, as he picked up a sixth place finish in the 1500-meters, running in the fastest heat of the day. All eight scoring runners came from the second heat of the day, paced by Middle Tennessee's Festus Chemaoi, and Ramirez ran a time of 3:54.26; just seven seconds behind Chemaoi in the race.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team of Payton McGhee, Hicks, McLeod and Burke Leonce finished fourth overall in the conference with a time of 40.67 seconds. They finished just 0.72 seconds out of a medal position that was shared by Middle Tennessee State and North Texas based on time. The 4x400-meter relay team of Shane George, Madden, Dennis Acree and Andre McElroy also scored points for the Trojans when they finished sixth overall with a time of 3:16.35.
The Trojans continued to score points on Sunday in field events, with Grant Bullington finishing sixth overall in the high jump with a clearance of 1.95 meters. A trio of Trojans scored points in the javelin, with freshman MacKenzie Howell finishing fourth with a distance of 60.42 meters. He was joined by senior Norman Austin with a sixth place finish after a distance of 58.36 meters, and senior Mike Conley with a eighth place finish after a distance of 55.51 meters. Freshman Terrell Irons scored for the Trojans in the triple jump, finishing fifth overall with a jump of 14.65 meters while competing in the first flight.
Ramirez and Jeremy Moujoodi narrowly misssed scoring points for the Trojans in the 5000-meters on Sunday evening, with the two runners finishing 10th and 11th; however, they finished just six seconds out of eighth place overall in the event.
On the women's side, the Trojans scored big in the 100-meter hurdles with a second and third place finish overall. Redshirt sophomore Latoya Ragland finished second overall with a time of 13.61 seconds, while Naquita Rowe turned in a personal best time of 13.69 seconds as the duo prepared for the NCAA Regionals in the finals of their event.
The 4x100-meter relay team of Ariel Cavazos, Ragland, Rowe and Shay Matthews also scored for the Trojans on Sunday, as they finished eighth overall in the event with a time of 47.62 seconds. The Trojans 4x400-meter relay team that featured Cavazos, Kapri Hockaday, Agata Cichoszewska and Matthews also finished eighth, scoring points for the Trojans with a time of 3:55.75.
In the field events on Sunday, Cichoszewska won a silver medal in the triple jump. The senior finished with a jump of 13.17 meters, finishing behind Middle Tennessee State's Sarah Nambawa. Senior Monique Jordan finished her last conference meet with an eighth place finish the hammer with a throw of 47.22 meters, to score a point for the Trojans in the overall team standings. The only other point scored by the Trojans in the field events on Sunday came via Cichoszewska in the javelin, as she finished eighth with a throw of 36.03 meters.
The Trojans will have one final chance to qualify more student-athletes for the NCAA Regionals, that take place May 29-30 in Louisville, this weekend in Atlanta. They will take part in the Georgia Tech Invitational on May 16-17, the same track that Desmond Brown qualified in his Last Chance Meet last season in the 400-meter hurdles. Currently, the Trojans have 11 student-athletes qualified in 12 different events for the regionals.
For up-to-the-minute information about Troy University athletics, make sure to check back to www.TroyTrojans.com. For ticket information, contact the Troy University Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS (9467).
