This past weekend the LOC track and field team participated in the inaugural SIAC indoor championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
After a long indoor season the Lady Magicians track and field teams concluded their indoor season. The young Lady Magicians team had been rattled with injuries and entered the weekend determined to get back on the right track. Although the teams didn't finish where they wanted to as a collective (7th), the scrappy Lady Magicians had a bunch of individual success. It was such a great experience for the entire school because track and field has only been at the college for the past three years. In that time span, the program has had two different head coaches and task of building a program from scratch. With adding a program to a college comes highs, lows, and plenty of growing pains. The combination of the highs and lows are what makes the most journey satisfying.
The Magicians have one of the youngest teams in the conference and didn't have much collegiate experience entering the meet. What the team does have is a bunch of athletes who are hungry to succeed at this level. Prior to competing in the Indoor SIAC Championships the Magicians competed at Vanderbilt, UAB, Chicago State and in the KMS invitational. Each meet the team has gotten stronger and has had several athletes break personal records and set new records for the college. "That's one of the benefits of going to a new or small program, you get a chance to leave your mark on history and be one of the first to do something, it's special", said head coach Terry Rhoades.
A few Lady Magicians did just that this past weekend as the team had five athletes named to the SIAC all-conference teams. Jamea Lindley, Jada Joshua and Tajana Sims were all named all conference after top five finishes in their respective events. Joshua placed 4th in the Women's Weight Throw and 5th in the Shot Put. Freshman Tajana Sims came up big for the team and placed 5th in the Triple Jump. The team also received strong performances from sophomores Mya McKenzie, Cierra Crusoe, and Jacky Beltran.
The team will now shift all of the energy to outdoor season which is less than a month away.
