Tiona, a senior from Dallas, competed Friday and Saturday at the 4th annual Indoor Gorilla Classic hosted by Pittsburg State, Kan. The defending NAIA national indoor champion in the triple jump, Tiona turned in the NAIA’s best mark of the season in that event with a school-record tying leap of 40 feet, 8¾ inches (Caroline Oladipo, 2008).
Tiona also came up with the NAIA’s 10th-best long jump of the year, 18-9¾, plus won the 60-meter hurdles from a field of 51 with a time of 8.79 seconds, good for fifth-fastest in the NAIA.
“What an athlete,” WBU coach Brian Whitlock said.
The track and field team competes Saturday at Texas Tech in its final meet prior to indoor nationals Feb. 28-March 2 in Brookings, S.D.