By: by Scott Lipsky
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.- Three Owls posted top ten finishes on the first day of the Niswonger Invitational, two of them coming in sprint events, and two more members of the sprinting and hurdles corp qualified for event finals as the Kennesaw State track and field program ended their seven-week break on Friday.
The meet, which is being held at East Tennessee State, the site of the Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, is two days long, but the Owls made their presence felt on their conference rival’s track right away. James Verdi and Ethan Kasson represented KSU extremely well in the 400 Meter Dash, finishing ninth and tenth, respectively, in a field of 132 competitors, with times of 49.82 and 49.86 seconds.
Freshmen Travis Benton and Tremaine Grant advanced to the final round of their events, which will take place on Saturday. Grant’s time of 8.39 seconds in the 60 Meter Hurdles places him ninth in the 77-runner field, and he will square off the finals tomorrow at 5:25 p.m. Eastern Time, while Benton’s 6.92 second sprint in the 60 Meter Dash puts him that final at 4:40 tomorrow after finishing eighth in the preliminaries. His time was good enough to set a school record, breaking Kendall Park’s 7.00 second time, set last year at ETSU.
Freshman sprinter Frank Minton didn’t qualify for the final round of the 60 Meter Dash, but his 24th place finish and 7.01 second time was encouraging for the St. Petersburg, Fla. native who was made his collegiate debut on Friday.
“I hadn’t touched a track since July before today, since I was working on getting healthy,” said Minton. “This wasn’t a satisfying race for me, but I understand that once I begin to compete in more races I’ll be able to run at the level I know i’m capable of being at.”
Senior Joshua McNair had the highest finish among all Owls on Friday, placing second in the Weight Throw with a toss of 59’4.75”, just short of the school record that he holds in the event, currently at 60’5.5”. He’ll have a chance to break the other KSU record he holds, this one in the Shot Put (54’11.25”), when he competes with fellow Casey Reynolds at 2:00 on Saturday.
Action for the men continues on Saturday morning at 8:30 am when distance specialists Steven Murray, Nabil Hamid, Nathan Haskins, and Michael Johnson will be at the starting line for the 5000 Meter Run. The meet can be followed all-day with live scoring at www.cfpitiming.com.
