By: by Emily Diekelmann
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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Finally reaching the pivotal point of the indoor season, the Kennesaw State men’s track and field team will be at ETSU for the Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday. Just a year removed from winning the indoor A-Sun title, the squad will try to win a third straight indoor title under new head coach Andy Eggerth’s guidance.
“The Conference Championship is the most fun time of year because the team aspect of athletics really comes into play,” Eggerth said. “Frequently a couple points may separate a 2nd from a 4th place team finish, so every athlete and every performance counts. Everybody needs to rise to the occasion so that we can have the ultimate team effort.”
Last season, it came down to the final event to decide the championship with Kennesaw State’s 4x400 relay narrowly beating out ETSU by two one-hundredths of a second to win their second straight A-Sun Indoor Championship. Fast forward to this season and the Owls are hoping to make it three in a row.
Returning from last year’s squad, Gianni Catalano looks to defend his 800 meter victory which also earned him an All-Conference selection. If he comes out on top, he will tie former teammate Jerome McKinzie with four gold medals in one event.
Having already broken the school record in the 60 meter hurdles this season, Kendall Parks will once again try to cross the line first, having come in third last season. His record breaking time earlier this year is three tenths of a second faster than his time from last year’s indoor championship.
Also breaking school records this season were juniors Jaakko Nieminen and Anjoun Armaly. In his first meet of the indoor season, Nieminen finished first in the 3,000 meters at the Clemson Invitational, crossing the line in 8:31.51. That time beat the old record by 11 seconds and gave Nieminen his first A-Sun Track Athlete of the Week award.
Armaly, in his first season as an Owl, has already shown his strength as a jumper. During his first indoor meet, he broke the triple jump record which earned him an A-Sun Field Athlete of the Week honor. Only a few weeks later, he broke the record again, this time shattering it with a 15.03 meter jump. Jumps coach Mike Goss is pumped to see how Armaly and the other jumpers do this weekend.
"I'm an emotional coach and I love the art and drama of championship performance,” Goss said. "Our jumpers have worked hard; it's a blend of mental focus, conditioning and athleticism. This is where individual confidence and competitive fire come into play. Anjoun Armaly and Tyler Riberdy always push one another in practice. That's a formula for success with any athletes trying to score big points for team pride. Each of these guys may hit a big jump in the long or triple jump."
