By: by Emily Diekelmann
CLEMSON, S.C. - Completing their second day at the JRF Combined Events Invitational on Saturday, the men’s track and field team had a strong outing, adding two more personal records on the weekend. Preparing for the conference championship in a few weeks, the squad finished with eight total records set over two days.
“We are three weeks away from the conference championship, we are easing back on the training and that is evident in the records they are making,” head track and field coach Andy Eggerth said. “They put the money in the bank so now they get to cash all their paychecks. It shows they are coming into form at the right time of the season and are looking for bigger and better things.”
Just a day after setting a new personal best in the 60 meter dash, Jemir Martinez would once again set a new record for himself, this time in the 200 meters. Running in the same race as teammates Antonio Logan and Sadio Diallo, Martinez finished fourth in 22.65 seconds. Logan crossed the line in 22.56, narrowly missing his already set school record of 22.55. His finish was good enough for second. Diallo, in his first season at Kennesaw State, completed the race in 22.82 seconds, well enough for fifth.
Three weeks removed from setting the new indoor school record the 3,000 meters, Jaakko Nieminen was back at it this time in the mile. His time of 4:17.51 gave him a new personal record and a fourth place victory. In the 4,000 meter distance medley relay, Owl team of Andrew Greeson, David Tansey, Gianni Catalano and Michael Guntner finished first in 10:54.22.
“I made a pretty good effort in the mile with a two second personal record,” Nieminen said. “The end was rough since it haven’t done a lot of speed workouts at this point of the season so I fell a bit short of where I was aiming but I know there is still more time for me to improve before conference.”
