Troy University Athletics
Troy Prepares for SBC Championships
5/7/2009 2:45:00 PM | Track & Field
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - With cloudy skies filling the scenary around Blue Raider Field Wednesday morning, the Troy University track and field programs woke up for the final day of preparation for the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships. Unfortunately for the Trojans, the skies may not stay cloudy for long as the National Weather Service is calling for a 60 percent chance of rain on Friday and Saturday. They are also calling for 40 percent on Sunday, the final day of the championships.
The Trojans have qualifed 11 different student-athletes in 10 different events, with three of those student-athletes qualifying in more than one event. Junior Tiphanie Baker has qualified in three events for the NCAA Regionals at the end of the month, including the discus, hammer and shot put. Meanwhile, seniors Agata Cichoszewska (long jump and triple jump) and Lamar Hicks (200m and 4x100-meter relay) have qualified in a pair of events for the regionals to be held at the University of Louisville.
However, the Trojans will be battling the weather and their conference foes this weekend with a chance to win medals and qualify more student-athletes for the NCAA Regionals. On the men's side, the Trojans came out of nowhere last to finish third overall at the championships and were picked to finish seventh overall in the meet. Meanwhile, on the women's side, Troy finished fourth a season ago and are picked to finish seventh as well.
The meet gets started on Friday with the Decathlon (men) and Heptathlon (women) at Blue Raider Field. Mike Conley (fourth overall), Leander McKenzie (seventh) and Grant Bullington (eighth) will hit the track Friday morning; while Chontia Allen (ninth overall) will hit the track for the women in search of points for the Trojans. The first day will conclude with the 10,000-meter race for the men and women with Jeremy Moujoodi and Anastacia Limo participating for the Trojans.
In between the multi-events and the 10,000-meters, Baker and senior Monique Jordan will compete in the women's discus; while Ryan Schmeling and Michael Martin will compete in the event for the men.
The Trojans are favored in a pair of events as they will head into the championships with the conference leader in those events. Junior Leander McKenzie has been hampered by a leg injury all season, but currently leads the conference in the 110-meter hurdles with a regional qualifying time of 14.07 seconds. However, he will be challenged throughout the week by FIU's Andre Reid, who is just 0.06 seconds behind McKenzie's time this season. Meanwhile, Baker leads the conference in the discus with a throw of 53.15 meters, which is 0.39 meters ahead of FIU's Joeane Jadotte.
Troy also has several athletes who are in medal contention in their events heading into the championships, including Hicks who has narrowly missed qualifying for the regionals in the 100-meter dash this season. However, he has run a time of 10.38 seconds (wind-aided) and was the second-fastest man in the Sun Belt Conference last season in the event.
Hicks is also in the running for a 200-meter medal althoughhs is sixth in the conference standings at this point, as is Antonio McLeod in the 100-meters although he sits at eighth overall with a time of 10.57 (just 0.02 seconds from a regional qualifying time). The duo are part of the 4x100-meter relay team that qualified for the NCAA Regionals a couple of weeks ago at the Coach O Invitational, and are currently seeded third overall in the conference.
Senior Norman Austin will chase the gold this weekend in the javelin after he qualified for the NCAA Regional two weeks ago. The relaxed Austin can now focus on winning the conference championship and not trying to qualify for the region on the same weekend. He is currently third, over four meters away from the top throw in the conference this season.
Cichoszewska currently sits second in triple jump behind Middle Tennessee's Sarah Nambawa with a jump of 13.20 meters (just 0.09 meters from being the best jump in the conference). She also sits third in the long jump with a distance of 6.11 meters, just 0.07 meters away from North Texas' Ashley Austin for the best jump in the conference this season.
Although she leads the conference in the discus, Baker is in medal contention in the hammer throw and shot put this weekend. She is currently second in the hammer throw with a distance of 56.02 meters, just 0.09 meters behind WKU's Sarah Lambrecht. Baker is also third in the shot put at this point in the season with a throw of 14.46 meters.
On the track for the women, redshirt sophomore Latoya Ragland will attempt to overtake North Texas' Lauren Wiggins in the 100-meter hurdles in the last conference meet of the season. Ragland has run a season-best time of 13.58 seconds, just 0.11 seconds behind Wiggins and just 0.03 seconds ahead of Wiggins' teammate, Alysha Adams.
The meet begins at 9 am on Friday and runs until the last event on Sunday which is scheduled for 9 pm. For more information on the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, visit the Sun Belt Conference official website by clicking here.
For up-to-the-minute information on Troy University athletics, make sure to check back on www.TroyTrojans.com. For ticket information, contact the Troy University Athletics Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS (9467).
