Idaho Athlete Prepares For Olympic Marathon Competition
UPDATE: Chojnacky finished the marathon with a time of 2:52:43. That is an average mile run of 6:35 which put her at 277th place out of 390 female runners.
This weekend an Idaho athlete, who is a Jerome High School graduate, will be running in Atlanta in hopes of qualifying to compete at the Olympic games. The race will air Saturday morning, February 29, 2020, starting at 10 according to KMVT. Mackenzie Chojnacky qualified for this weekend's race in Duluth last year with an impressive time of 2 hours, 42 minutes and 34 seconds.
Chojnacky graduated from Jerome High School in 2011.
Jerome High School has received national attention also for its cheer team this year. The group ranked 5th among all the competing teams in the Co-Ed Varsity Show Cheer Intermediate category at the USA Spirit Nationals earlier this month. Pretty impressive considering they were required to make last-minute changes to their routine to avoid penalties.
Idaho could be well represented at the upcoming Olympics as a number of other hopefuls aim to compete in future events, including a young female boxer named Alyssa Mendoza. She is currently only 16 years old and hopes to box in the 2024 Olympic games in Paris. Alyssa is the only female to ever make the Team USA boxing team so making it also to the Olympics would be monumental. This month she has been training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado and returns to Idaho in March for a scheduled fight in the Treasure Valley.
Our state has always been a solid-state for great athletes including Olympians, wrestlers, football, and baseball players.