User:Newyorker2012

Biography
Lorena (LoLo) Menghia was born in Iasi, Romania on June 12, 1988. When she was 10 years old, she was persuaded by her older sister, Catrinel Menghia (who was also doing track and field at that time) to follow her footsteps and start training for track. Soon after that, LoLo won her first national title in the pentathlon and scored a new national record in the same event. LoLo continued to train for the pentathlon until age 14, when she started training with coach Ghilase Marius. Soon after, he and Menghia chose to concentrate on the event that was her best, high jump.
 * In 2002 Ghilase helped Menghia improve substantially in the high jump. LoLo was member of the Romanian National Track&Field team for several years (where she was coached by Monica Iagar and Cristi Popescu) and represented her country in many competitions such as European Junior Championship in Hengelo, Netherlands, World Youth Championship in Marrakesh, Morocco, and several Balcanic Championships. Based on her performances, she was ranked 11th in Europe in the high jump event (2004).

After graduating from Athletic High School (Liceul cu Program Sportiv) in her hometown, Menghia decided to continue her studies in the USA. In 2008 she received an athletic scholarship from Jacksonville State. Under coach Adrian Ghioroaie’s guidance (a former Romanian track athlete) LoLo made a great impression her freshman year by winning various titles in the high jump and triple jump also.


 * In 2009 she transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she performed in the heptathlon, high jump, triple jump, and 4x400m. Her coaches (Gary Pepin and Kris Grimes) had a great impact on LoLo’s athletic career and helped her improve her marks.

After a bad injury (tore her Achilles tendon) in 2011, she decided to quit track and continue her studies in the field of business and athletics.

Menghia graduated from UNL in May 2012 with a BS degree in Business Management with focus on International Affairs.

She currently lives in New York City.