By: by Emily Diekelmann
AUBURN, Ala. - Heading into their final meet before conference, the Kennesaw State men’s track and field team travels to Auburn, Ala. for the Auburn Tiger Track Classic, April 1-2. This meet will feature powerhouse teams from all over the south including Auburn, Duke, Kentucky and Georgia Tech.
“This is our final competition prior to the A-Sun Championship, so this gives our athletes an opportunity to get a qualifying mark,” head track and field coach Andy Eggerth said. “For those already qualified, they can focus on tuning up their event so they’re ready to compete at a very high level in two weeks. The Auburn Tiger Classic provides a quality facility and strong competition, so we look forward to great results. “
Coming off a first place finish at the Yellow Jacket Invitational and his first Atlantic Sun Athlete of the Week award, Kendall Parks will try to improve his school record 14.10 seconds in the 110 meter hurdles this weekend. Parks will also get to try his hand at the 100 meters, 200 and 4x100 relay.
After setting a new school record in the 10,000 meters at the Raleigh Relays, junior Jaakko Nieminen is back in action. Since the meet doesn’t have a 5k or 10k, Nieminen and teammates Piotr Witczak, Zach Tupper and Andrew Greeson will tackle the 1,500 meters. He will also get a shot at beating the school record in the 3,000 meters on Saturday.
Josh McNair has started his final outdoor season strong but looks to continue that in the shot put and discus throw this weekend. Last weekend at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, McNair broke his already held school record in the hammer throw with a 182’ 5” top throw.
First year sensation Anjoun Armaly gets a shot at breaking the outdoor long and triple jump records. Armaly currently holds the indoor records in the both events. Brian Graham, who broke the decathlon school record last weekend at Alabama Relays, can brush up on his individual events this weekend since the Tiger Classic doesn’t have a combined competition. He will compete in 110 meter hurdles, pole vault and discus throw.
Competition begins Friday at 4:30 p.m. with the hammer throw which is the only event Friday. It picks up again at 11 a.m. Saturday with the pole vault.
