Kulichenko Rules the East

Last weekend Winners Only covered its third straight NCAA east regional meet. Formerly known as the East Preliminary Round, now known as the East First Round, the top 48 athletes in each event took the track to finish in the top 12 and advance to the NCAA Championships. The action took place on May 23 and 25 in Lexington, Kentucky. Let's take a look at one of the top performers of the meet.

When late May arrives, the east regional takes place, the sun starts to shine a bit brighter, the temperature rises and Elena Kulichenko advances to the NCAA Championships.

The junior and Odintsovo, Russia native has competed at the east regional each year of her collegiate career and every time she has breezed through while most other jumpers struggle to advance to the next round. In 2022 Kulichenko had one miss while jumping at four heights finishing the competition at 1.84. Last year She only jumped two heights and finished two for two with a mark of 1.82. This year, Kulichenko repeated with just two attempts and no misses and a finish of 1.84 meters.

Over the past two years, Kulichenko has earned two bronze medals in the high jump at the NCAA Championships. During her freshman season, she finished in the top 11.

For the first time ever, Kulichenko entered the east regional as SEC champion, finally overcoming Arkansas Rachel Glenn and Texas A&M's Lamara Distin who have consistently been the two jumpers that have finished ahead of her at championship meets over her career.

At the SEC Championships on May 11, Kulichenko set a school record with a mark of 1.95 meters. She's finished ahead of runner-up Glenn who won this year's NCAA indoor gold medal and the outdoor gold medal in 2021. Glenn also set the NCAA record at this year's indoor championship meet at two meters.

Distin was third at this year's SEC Championships. Over her career she has won two indoor NCAA championships and one outdoor NCAA championship. In the fourth place spot was last years NCAA outdoor champion Charity Hufnagle who was known as Charity Griffith in 2023 while competing for Ball State. After getting married, Hufnagle changed her name and now competes in the SEC for Kentucky.

After advancing out of the East First Round on May 25, Kulichenko talked to us about winning the SEC high jump gold and what it's like to have to compete against such talented jumpers. She smiled when we mentioned her conference championship win but quickly put things in perspective.

"It's not about being SEC Champion, it's about getting more confidence from it," Kulichenko said. "I don't care about the title. It's nice but it's more about the result. So right now it's like, 'I can do it,' you know. Now I'm more confident getting into NCAAs ... I value the medal but other things are more important to me."

On competing against Glenn, Distin and Hufnagle at the SEC meet and at the NCAA Championships, Kulichenko added, "It's always amazing," That's how results [grow]. If you have good competition, that's [a part of] getting there too."

She went on to say that jumping with so many women who have held collegiate records and NCAA championships make for a more exciting experience. "It's all about this energy [that exist while competing] ... all of those girls are amazing. It's just a great atmosphere there and it's gonna be fun."

Along with the NCAA Championships, Kulichenko also will prepare for the Olympics. Despite being from Russia, she has citizenship in Cyprus which is the country she represents in international competition.

"It's definitely on my mind," she said. "I'm trying not to overthink about it because I'm already in with [my] ranking, but I want it and I'll get it eventually."

NCAA High Jump Qualifiers from the East First Round

1. Katie Isenbarger - Western Kentucky, 1.84

1. Charity Hufnagel - Kentucky, 1.84

1. Elena Kulichenko - Georgia, 1.84

4. Soledad Jean - Louisville, 1.84

5. Roschell Clayton - Villanova, 1.84

5. Morgan Smalls - LSU, 1.84

7. Claire Bryant - Florida, 1.84

8. Morgan Fletcher - Murray State, 1.84

9. Brianna Smith, Duke, 1.81

10. E. Grace Quinland, Indiana State, 1.81

11. Amelia Benjamin, Albany, 1.81

12. Celia Rifaterra, Virginia, 1.81

The NCAA Track and Field Championships will take place June 6 and June 8 in Eugene, Oregon.