By: by Emily Diekelmann
KENNESAW, Ga.- Less than a week removed from a record setting weekend, the Kennesaw State men’s track and field team is back at it but this weekend provides interesting circumstances for the group. The team will be divided as four distance runners will compete in Raleigh, NC, three in the decathlon at Alabama Relay and the rest of the team at the Yellow Jacket Invitational at Georgia Tech.
Since the Yellow Jacket Invitational doesn’t have a 10,000 meter race, Jaakko Nieminen, Nabil Hamid, Steven Murray and Ryan Burruss will be competing at the Raleigh relays hosted by NC State. Nieminen looks to capitalize on his success from the Georgia Intercollegiate Invitational last weekend where he broke the school record in the 5,000 meter race.
“I told everyone running the 10K this Friday to give it their all but not to run careless,” distance coach Stan Sims said. “For the 10K you have to be patient but aggressive. Jaakko, Nabil, Ryan and Steve are at Raleigh, NC with a strong regional field so they will have a chance to size themselves up against a good group of competitors.”
Traveling to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama Relays, Demarcus Henley, Adam Reed and Brian Graham will be competing in their first decathlon of the season. Last season, Graham finished fourth at the Atlantic Sun Conference Outdoor Championships in the decathlon. Earlier this season, he earned an All-Conference award for his second place finish in the heptathlon with 4,685 points.
The rest of the team will return to the campus of Georgia Tech to compete in the Yellow Jacket Invitational. Last weekend at the Georgia Intercollegiate Invitational, Nieminen and Piotr Witczak broke the first school records in the 5,000 and 1,500 meters, respectively.
Jerome McKinzie, who was recently named in the USTFCCA National Rankings for high jump, seeks a second straight first place finish and to gain control of the top spot for high jump in the A-Sun. Josh McNair looks to improve on his top three finish in the discus, hammer and shot put from last weekend.
