National Championship Effort Gives Kennedy USCAA Athlete of the Week
After taking home two medals at the USCAA Track & Field Championships on Saturday, Eladia Kennedy was named this week's USCAA Women's Track & Field Player of the Week.
McKeesport, PA. – After taking home six medals at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Track & Field Championships over the weekend, they get to take home one more award on Tuesday. Sophomore Eladia Kennedy (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) was announced as the USCAA Female Track & Field Athlete of the week on Tuesday after taking home two medals on Saturday.
Kennedy has been one of the top two competitors for PSUGA this season and was the lone female competitor for PSUGA entering the USCAA Championships. She competed in both the 100-Meter dash and the 200-Meter dash and was ranked highly in the field of competitors in both events putting added pressure on her entering the weekend.
She started off her USCAA championship day competing in the 100-Meter dash as her and the field had to deal with a cold wet day. She finished second in her heat in the preliminary rounds running a 13.60 and qualifying for the finals. She would then come out and become the first USCAA National Champion in PSUGA history running a 14.05 100-Meter dash and picking up the first medal of the day for PSUGA.
She would then come out four events later and compete in the women’s 200-Meter dash, an event which she has excelled at throughout her collegiate career. She would end up bringing home her second medal of the day picking up the bronze medal with a time of 29.58 seconds. Kennedy medaled in both of her events on the day and tied for the team lead in terms of number of medals won with two.
Kennedy has been the cornerstone of the first-year PSUGA Track & Field program and will be one of the people head coach Greg Schmitt will build around for years to come. Kennedy’s hard work throughout the season paid off and she now has more motivation to continue her hard work into the off-season.
Kennedy is the 11th PSUGA athlete to be recognized by the USCAA this season and it is the second time that she has won the award this season. She also won the award for her effort at the Slippery Rock Open two weeks earlier where she set new PR’s in both the 100 and the 200 as she began to prepare herself for the Championships. It is also the third time this season that a PSUGA Track & Field athlete has won the Athlete of the Week award.
Kennedy and the PSUGA Track & Field team have one more meet before their season officially comes to an end when they head to the Allegheny College Gator Invitational on Friday May 10th at 9 a.m.