Troy University Athletics
Trio Competes at National Championships
6/9/2009 4:15:00 PM | Track & Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A trio of Troy University student-athletes are competing this week at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, beginning Wednesday on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
All three of the athletes will be making their debuts at the highest level of collegiate competition this week and are the most representatives from the school to compete at the championships on an individual level.
Junior Leander McKenzie and senior Agata Cichoszewska took the easy route to the NCAA Championships by placing in the top five at the NCAA Mideast Regional in their respective events and earning All-Region honors. Meanwhile, junior Tiphanie Baker missed out on the automatic placements into the championships, but her national ranking was high enough to get her in based on the descending order list to fill the field.
Baker will get things started for the Trojans when she competes in the discus on Wednesday. The Birmingham-native holds the school record in the event with a throw of 54.56 meters at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships May 8. She also holds school records in the hammer and the discus which she set this season, en route to qualifying for the regionals in all three events. Baker has won six gold medals in the discus this season including the conference championship, and has won a total of 11 in her three events this season. Her throw of 50.07 meters at the regionals was just her fourth-best throw and put her in ninth place after the finals.
Meanwhile, McKenzie will be competing for the first time in the national championships in the 110-meter hurdles. Battling an injury most of the fall, he was able to come back and fight his way to a second place finish after the prelims in the event at the Mideast Regionals. However, he struggled in the finals, finishing fifth but still earned the right to battle for a national championship. McKenzie, the epitome of a hurdler, will battle the nation's best in the hurdles beginning on Thursday and will look to better his school record in the event that he set at the regionals. He broke the school record in the event that he set last season at the Coach O Invitational. After competing most of the season in the Decathlon, McKenzie was able to capture the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles in the conference championship before the regionals.
Cichoszewska will be competing in the NCAA Championships in her final collegiate meet in the triple jump. In the top three most of the season in the event, the senior finished fifth at the NCAA Regionals after suffering a foot injury prior to the event. The school record holder in the long jump and triple jump, Cichoszewska has won three gold medals in the triple jump, and has won a total of six gold medals on the season while competing in the Heptathlon, long jump and javelin. She was able to jump 13.20 meters earlier this season to set the school record in the triple jump; before jumping 13.17 meters at the conference championships and 12.84 meters at the regional championship.
The trio will practice Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the championships which begin Wednesday morning and can be seen live by clicking here.
