By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Micayla Rennick continued her outstanding senior season of collegiate track & field this past weekend at the 2018 OVC Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
Tech won its first-ever conference championship in the outdoor season with 151 points, 36 of which Rennick was responsible for (that calculates to nearly a quarter of Tech's total points at 23.8 percent).
Rennick was announced as the Female Athlete of the Championship on Saturday after winning or finishing as the runner-up in all four of her events.
She collected her first title during the meet opener on Thursday, winning the 10k with a time of 36:15.72. On Friday, she qualified for the 800m run finals with a fifth-place finish in the event's preliminaries.
Saturday was Rennick's busiest day, as she would run the 1500m, 800m and 5000m all within the span of three hours. She won the 1500m run at 4:36.80 (Tech's first-ever title in the event) and finished as the runner-up in a very close 800m race, as well as in the 5000m run.
Rennick is the first OVC female track athlete to sweep the athlete of the year and athlete of the championship awards across both the indoor and outdoor seasons in a single athletic year (Tennessee State field athlete Amber Hughes did the same in 2017). The Ohio Valley Conference began awarding Athlete of the Championship in 2005.
She is also just the ninth female athlete in the conference to win both indoor and outdoor athlete of the year in a single season (the OVC began indoor athlete of the year selections in 1990) and the first runner to do so since Tennessee State's Dominique Holmes swept in 2008.
The NCAA will make its official announcement on Thursday morning, but Rennick has qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary in Tampa, Florida, next week in both the 1500m and 10,000m runs. She is also on the bubble for selection in the 5000m run.