Michelle Rzepka, a former McNeese State record setting pole vaulter, will compete for the USA in the Olympics in Canada in the bobsled events.           

            The native of Novi, Michigan will compete in both the two man event and the four man event.  She began the sport of bobsled in 2007, joining the World Cup team during her rookie year.

            In but two seasons she pushed her way to top 10 finishes in seven of eight World Cup races, earning her first World Cup medal - bronze - in Whistler, Canada, site of this year's Olympic Games which begins later this week.

            Rzepka, a graduate of Michigan State, competed in the pole vault event for McNeese as a graduate student and not only set school records but also won a Southland Conference title and was named McNeese's athlete of the year in 2005-06.

            She set the Cowgirl pole vault record of 13-7, the same year in which she won the SLC title.

            Rzepka is the third former McNeese athlete to compete in the Olympics.  The late Fanahan McSweeney, a record setting middle distance runner at McNeese in the early 1970s, competed in the Olympics for Ireland while Cowboy basketball standout Alvydas Pazdrazdis, who played at McNeese in the mid-1990s, was a member of the Lithuanian team that won a bronze medal at the Olympics in 1992.

            McSweeney at one time  held McNeese records for the 200 yard dash (21.1), 400 yard dash (46.3) and 800 yard dash (1:49.4) while also being a member of school record setting sprint and mile relay teams.

            Pazdrazdis played four seasons for the Cowboy basketball team, leading the team in scoring two years and being named the squad's most valuable player in 1995.