By: by Scott Lipsky
Interview with Coach McGarey
Interview with Josh McNair
Day 1 Morning Photo Gallery
Day 1 Evening Photo Gallery
Day 2 Photo Gallery
Full Results
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – It couldn’t have been written any better. The final event, the 4x400 Meter Relay, with the A-Sun Conference title on the line, being decided by two-one hundredths of a second. In the end, the Owls came out victorious, winning their second conference Indoor Track and Field title in three years.
Kennesaw State entered the second day of competition at the Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship in second place, trailing host and defending champion East Tennessee State by 23 points, with 41 to their 64, and needed a big boost if they were going to overtake the program whom many have considered the dominant force in men’s A-Sun Track and Field.
A second day that included 15 top-three performances from the Owls, including two first-place finishes, was enough to put head coach Don McGarey’s squad out front when it mattered, after all was said and done. It was only at that point that the championship was secured.
Heading into the final event of the championship, the 4x400 Meter Relay, the men led the point standings with 177, followed closely by ETSU, who had 175. Going into the final leg of the relay, it was the squads pushing for that championship title that were neck-and-neck, with Ethan Kasson taking the baton for the Owls and doing his best plastic-man impersonation to just edge out ETSU senior Duronal Monal, who was named Most Outstanding Track Performer and MVP of the championship, to give the Owls relay team of David Tansey, Daniel Grass, Jemir Martinez, and Kasson a time of 3:15.67 to ETSU’s 3:15.69 and clinch the championship. Both times shattered the old conference record of 3:18.42, set by ETSU in 2008.
The final steps across the finish line had to be reviewed on video to ensure that KSU had actually won, but alas, official word came just a few minutes later, and the Black and Gold could officially celebrate.
“This couldn’t have ended in any more of a dramatic fashion. We gave it everything we had, right down to the last moment,” said McGarey, who was named the A-Sun Men’s Coach of the Year. “Everyone knew that we would have to put forth out best effort to come out on top, and that can’t be demonstrated any better than the way Ethan came across the finish line.”
It was a truly successful weekend for the Owls. Senior Josh McNair, the 2008 A-Sun Indoor Champion in the Shot Put, repeated the feat on Friday two years later, taking home the Shot Put title with a heave of 54’2.5”. Saturday saw junior Gianni Catalano win the 800 Meter Run for the third consecutive year, this time with a conference-record time of 1:53.43, breaking the record of 1:53.60 last year in Johnson City.
Senior Jerome McKinzie, who was heavily favored in the High Jump coming into the weekend, did not disappoint, clearing 2.09 meters (6’10.25”) to take home the title. While his leap did not approach the 2.20 meters he cleared on January 31 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, it did break his previous A-Sun Championship record of 2.04 meters that he set last year. He will end his indoor career with a perfect record in the A-Sun Championship, having won the High Jump all four years of competition.
McKinzie also competed in the Triple Jump, and contributed heavily, finishing fourth in the event to earn five points. It was performances like this that made McGarey confident in his team going into the final day.
“Even though we were trailing by a good margin, I knew we had some tricks in the bag that other teams wouldn’t expect. Our scoring in the Triple Jump was a perfect example. We’re not considered the deepest team in that event, but when get efforts like we did from Kendall Parks (3rd), Jerome McKinzie, and Tyler Riberdy (5th), who’s been fighting to stay healthy, it makes us an incredibly deep squad,” McGarey said. “I knew we had the ability to go out and compete, and we went and did it.”
It was McGarey’s ability to put his athletes in position to score in several events that made him a logical choice for Coach of the Year. The coach and professor went out of his way to give credit to his staff for the accolade.
“I’m the Coach of the Year because I have the best coaching staff, the best support staff, and the best student-athletes anyone could ask for,” he said of winning his second indoor coach of the year award, to go along with one award of the same kind in outdoor track. “Our staff has done an incredible job of developing our student athletes. It was all about surrounding myself with great people, and I’ve done that.”
Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship- February 26-27- Scoring Results
60 Meter Dash
3 Travis Benton- 6.91- 6
5 Antonio Logan- 6.95- 4
60 Meter Hurdles
3 Kendall Parks- 8.33- 6
6 Brian Graham- 8.81 -3
8 Damarcus Henley- 9.22- 1
200 Meter Dash
3 Benton, Travis FR Kennesaw State 21.81 6
6 Minton, Frank FR Kennesaw State 22.38 3
8 Logan, Antonio JR Kennesaw State 22.46 1
400 Meter Dash
2 Kasson, Ethan FR Kennesaw State 49.30 8
3 Verdi, James JR Kennesaw State 49.33 6
4 Tansey, David SO Kennesaw State 49.61 5
800 Meter Run
1 Catalano, Gianni JR Kennesaw State 1:53.43 10
3 Grass, Daniel SO Kennesaw State 1:55.02 6
4 Guntner, Michael JR Kennesaw State 1:55.25 5
6 Witczak, Piotr JR Kennesaw State 1:57.50 3
One Mile Run
5 Witczak, Piotr JR Kennesaw State 4:22.99 4
7 Nieminen, Jaakko SO Kennesaw State 4:26.87 2
3000 Meter Run
6 Hamid, Nabil FR Kennesaw State 8:38.54 3
7 Haskins, Nathan SR Kennesaw State 8:39.97 2
8 Nieminen, Jaakko SO Kennesaw State 8:45.35 1
5000 Meter Run
7 Hamid, Nabil FR Kennesaw State 15:10.79 2
8 Haskins, Nathan SR Kennesaw State 15:12.82 1
Distance Medley Relay
2 Kennesaw State 10:13.10
1) Grass, Daniel SO 2) Tansey, David SO 3) Catalano, Gianni JR 4) Witczak, Piotr JR
4x400 Meter Relay
1 Kennesaw State 3:15.67 10
1) Tansey, David SO 2) Grass, Daniel SO 3) Martinez, Jemir SO 4) Kasson, Ethan FR
High Jump
1 McKinzie, Jerome SR Kennesaw State 2.09m 6-10.25 10
2 Zeman, Cameron FR Kennesaw State 2.04m 6-08.25 8
4 Blythe, Will FR Kennesaw State J1.94m 6-04.25 5
Pole Vault
3 Chamblee, Aaron FR Kennesaw State 4.45m 14-07.25 6
4 Bridges, Jake FR Kennesaw State 4.30m 14-01.25 5
Triple Jump
3 Parks, Kendall SO Kennesaw State 14.09m 46-02.75 6
4 McKinzie, Jerome SR Kennesaw State 13.63m 44-08.75 5
5 Riberdy, Tyler SO Kennesaw State 13.55m 44-05.50 4
Shot Put
1 McNair, Joshua SR Kennesaw State 16.52m 54-02.50 10
3 Reynolds, Casey FR Kennesaw State 14.84m 48-08.25 6
Weight Throw
2 McNair, Joshua SR Kennesaw State 17.62m 57-09.75 8
7 Reynolds, Casey FR Kennesaw State 14.05m 46-01.25 2
Heptathalon
4 Thurman, Kegan FR Kennesaw State 4473 5
8 Graham, Brian SO Kennesaw State 3917 1
Men - Team Rankings - 17 Events Scored
1) Kennesaw State 187
2) East Tenn. St. 183
3) Campbell 100
4) Belmont 52
5) Lipscomb 49
6) USC Upstate 45
7) North Florida 43
