By: by Emily Diekelmann
Full Results
ATLANTA, Ga. - Kicking off their outdoor season in Atlanta, the Kennesaw State men’s track and field team started it strong at the Georgia Intercollegiate Invitational, Friday and Saturday. Two school records were broken over the course of the weekend that saw competition from all over the state of Georgia.
“It was a good competition for us,” head track and field coach Andy Eggerth said. “We are coming off of some heavy training so it’s nice to still see us breaking school records despite them being tired. It’s great to see Jaakko and Piotr, who trained over spring break, break records and that their extra effort paid off.”
Fresh off his success in indoor competition, junior Jaakko Nieminen wasted no time showing his strength in the 5,000 meters. His time of 14:41.05 broke the old school record of 14:46.56 and also earned him a first place finish. He currently sits atop the leader board of the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 40 second lead over the next finisher in the 5,000 meters. During the indoor season, Nieminen shattered both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter school records.
“I'm proud of the team performance over all tonight,” Nieminen said. “The conditions were perfect since the race was held later at night. I'm happy I could set a personal record by seven seconds in my first race of the season and moreover break the school record.”
Fellow distance runner Piotr Witczak also had a record breaking evening on Friday. His time of 3:53.51 broke the previous school record of 3:55.17 set by Jari Venalainen in 2001. In the 800 meters, freshman Cole Jackob got his best finish of the season in second place with a time of 1:54.55.
The Owls landed in first, second and third in the 110 meter hurdles. Leading the way was Kendall Parks with a time of 14.10 seconds. Brian Graham and Joshua James came in second and third, respectively.
With the relays being the only events on Saturday, the 4x1 relay of Parks, Jemir Martinez, Antonio Logan and James Verdi coasted to a second place finish in a time of 41.25. Their finish gave them the fastest time in the A-Sun ahead of North Florida. In the 4x4, Joshua James, Logan, Martinez and David Tansey would grab another first place with a finishing time of 3:15.74. Their time puts them in first overall in the conference.
Competing in events on the field side, Jerome McKinzie returned from his indoor hiatus to finish in first in the high jump. His top height of 2.05 meters would hold off competition from Mykhail Chambers of Georgia Tech.
In his first meet of the season, Josh McNair competed in three events: shot put, discus and hammer throw. He nabbed second place in both the hammer and shot while he finished third in discus.
Next weekend is a busy one for the Owls with the team competing in several different meets based on their events. The four meets are the Stanford Invitational, Alabama Relays, Raleigh Relays and Yellow Jacket Invitational.
