McKenzie West (Q&A - June 2010)
McKenzie West, 18, of Sedalia, Colo., is one of six members of the U.S. Youth A World Championship Team that is traveling to Uppsala, Sweden, to compete at the Youth A World Championships, June 9-14. McKenzie won a bronze medal in Youth A competition at the 2009 USA Modern Pentathlon Nationals, and another bronze at the 2009 NORCECA Championships. She opened the 2010 year with a silver-medal performance at the Winter Open in Palm Springs, Calif.
McKenzie answered the following 10 questions for this month's Athlete Profile...
Q1: Describe a typical day of training. Do you have any teammates you train with on a regular basis?
McKENZIE WEST: Normally I try to run and swim 5 days a week while I am going to school, shoot and fence once a week and ride once in awhile since riding is my strongest sport. When I graduate from high school I can finally train full-time for the first time. I have been training with my teams at school sports but hopefully I will be able to train with the elite athletes at the Olympic Training Center.
Q2: Do you have a college in mind that you would like to attend, and why?
McKENZIE WEST: I'm planning on going to college at the
Q3: What’s it like having your mother as your riding coach?
McKENZIE WEST: It makes training for riding much easier and I have a few horses to choose from at the farm. She knows my riding ability and is able to push me harder and accomplish more.
Q4: What's your favorite saying?
McKENZIE WEST: "Pain is temporary and Pride is forever".
Q5: What do you consider to be your best performance thus far in your career?
McKENZIE WEST: The Pan American Championships in
Q6: What are your goals for the rest of 2010?
McKENZIE WEST: Competing in my first Youth A World Championships in Sweden and then I was invited to the Junior Worlds in Hungary but wanted to train more to be better prepared for the future and the U.S. Nationals. I will be representing the
Q7: What other sport would you have played if not for modern pentathlon?
McKENZIE WEST: I was a serious event rider before I had a horse accident a couple of years ago. That helped me decide on pentathlon. I also played soccer, gymnastics and basketball in middle school but loved cross-country, track and the girls swim team.
Q8: Do you have any brothers or sisters, or pets?
McKENZIE WEST: Yes, I have an older sister and a little brother that I have been trying to talk into doing Pentathlon but he is not crazy about riding. We have dogs, cats, rabbits and of course horses.
Q9: What advice would you give for youngsters looking to get involved with modern pentathlon?
McKENZIE WEST: Start swimming and running early, then join a fencing club, shooting club and riding club. I started in tetrathlon in the USPC which is everything minus the fencing. USAP is starting to get regional pentahlon organizations so check those out also.
Q10: Most people have interesting stories to tell about their driver’s license test, how about you?
McKENZIE WEST: I wanted my driver's license really bad and the only place that had an opening for the test was in a really rough scary part of
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Past Athlete Profiles
May 2010 - Marisa Berger
April 2010 - Sam Sacksen
March 2010 - Eli Bremer
February 2010 - Dennis Bowsher
January 2010 - Nathan Schrimsher
December 2009 - Margaux Isaksen
November 2009 - Will Brady
