Wesley Kirchharr
Sports Editor
Five indoor records were set on Saturday as the Troy track and field teams traveled to take part in the Camel City Invitational in Winston-Salem.
The Trojans were led on the track by sophomore standout, Precious Ogba. Ogba won three events over the weekend while also setting the Sun Belt’s season best in the 400-meter dash.
Ogba also took the top spot in the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 24.74 seconds, narrowly edging Richmond’s Tamar Accius with a time of 25.31.
Ogba then took part in the 4 x 400-meter relay, pushing the Trojans to a first-place finish with a time of 3:49.79. With Ogba at the start, Tiarra Bailey and Gemma Finch followed in the second and third slots with Madison Kennedy closing in the anchor position. Kennedy had the fastest split for the Trojans, finishing strong with a lap of 56.8 seconds.
Finch also highlighted the ladies’ distance medley team, leading the squad to a new school record. Troy’s 12:03.12 was good enough to beat Mount Olive’s team by over 24 seconds to take first place. Kennedy and Bailey also took part in the event with Tanner Guest, as well.
Guest stole the show in the women’s mile run later that day. The freshman’s 5:10.66 finish was enough to set the new Troy school record, outpacing the previous record by over six seconds, according to Troy Athletics.
Bailey and Finch weren’t done for the weekend, however, as they both broke school records and landed in the top five in the 600-meter and 800-meter, respectively.
Bailey’s second place run of 1:33.72 was good enough for a new Trojan record, but fell nearly one second shy of the top spot on the track.
For the men’s squad, Jordan Smith outpaced all others in Troy history as he set the school indoor record for the 800-meter. Smith’s 1:55.67 was good enough for third place after falling nearly two seconds behind the top spot.
In the field, Caleb Brown and Titus Sizemore led Troy with two second place finishes. Brown’s 18.72-meter heave in the weight throw landed him just behind North Carolina A&T’s Derrick Wheeler, who took first with a throw of 19.51 meters.
Sizemore landed as the runner-up in the high jump, placing in a tie with his 2.10-meter leap.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 8. Troy will return to the Birmingham CrossPlex for the fifth time this season to take part in the Samford Open before the USA National Indoor Championships starting on Feb. 15.
