Kennesaw, Ga.- The Kennesaw State men's track and field team will begin the indoor season on Friday, January 13 at the ETSU Invitational. The team will be in pursuit of their sixth-straight ASUN Conference Championship title. The Owls will have to do it without the winningest class in program history which graduated last spring. This year's team will feature just four seniors in Hunter Arnold, Fabeon Tucker, Terrell Singleton and Josh Mulder. Mulder will compete only in outdoor track this season. This year's team will be young but full of talent across the board with three juniors, six sophomores, and 11 freshmen to go along with the four seniors. KSU will be challenged this season as the favorite on the men's side and know there is a lot of work to be done on and off the track to make sure they are at their best when the ASUN Championship rolls around in late February.  

Director of Track and Field Andy Eggerth is excited to get the season going and is hopeful that the team can continue to mature and be successful. "It's always exciting to start a new season, but we have some challenges and some adversity as a team we need to overcome," said Eggerth. "We've had a very good run of success, especially on the men's side, but this is a new team and a new season, and with that come new expectations. This is a young group that still has some maturing to do. My hope is that if they stay dedicated to their team, their sport and their academics, that they will have a chance to have a successful season."

Throwers
KSU returns three throwers that fared well in the ASUN Conference last season. Fabeon Tucker, Daniel McKune, and Chuck McConville will compete for the Owls in the circle. Tucker took gold in the shot put and second in the weight throw at the indoor championships. McKune returns for his junior campaign after finishing third in the weight throw and fourth in the shot put, while posting career-long throws in both events. Lastly, McConville also will be looking to improve off a strong freshman indoor season which saw him earn a bronze medal at the ASUN Indoor Championships.  Joining them this season will be Quantavious Grady and Drew Anderson. Grady finished fourth in the shot put at the Georgia Relays, and Anderson won the Class A State Championship in the discus.

Coach Eggerth's take on the men's throwers.
"NJIT has opened their season with multiple school records in the throws to present us a challenge, but I expect our throwers will score a wealth of points at the championship."

Jumpers
Sean Blassingame and Dayo Akindele return for the Owls in the jumping events. Akindele, who also is a combined eventer, is the top returner from last year in the triple jump, long jump, and high jump after earning two silver medals and a bronze medal at the ASUN Indoor Championships a season ago. Blassingame, who competes as a sprinter and jumper, came along under the development of jumps coach Ed Loyd and earned the bronze medal in the long jump at the ASUN Indoor Championships. He posted his career-best indoor triple jump of 13.82m (45'4.25) at the David E. Walker Kickoff Classic.  They will be joined this season by a trio of talented freshman triple jumpers in Christian Ellis, Qwazon Al-Khaliq, and Tariq Bradford.

Senior Hunter Arnold and sophomore Brenton Rosa return as the team's lone pole vaulters. Arnold is improving daily and wants to be the first athlete in program history to clear 5.00m (16-4.75). Arnold cleared it in practice last week and hopes it will carry over to competition. He and Rosa will be the favorites to be atop the medal at the indoor championships this year after Rosa took home gold and Arnold took the silver medal at last year's outdoor championships while they flipped places at last year's indoor championships

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the jumpers
"If we do what we're capable of we should be very strong in the jumps at the A-Sun Championship, and even break some school records, namely in the pole vault."

Sprints and Hurdles
Senior Terrell Singleton, Sean Blassingame, Braden Canamare and Johnathon Womack return as the team's top sprinters in 2017. Blassingame hopes to pick up where he left off at the end of last season. He took home four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m relay at both the ASUN Outdoor Championships where he was named Most Outstanding Performer. He also earned a gold medal in the 200m at the ASUN Indoor Championships. Both Womack and Canamare will look to improve in their sophomore seasons. Nick Grant, Chandler Nichols, and Deashton Tandy will provide depth to this group.

Singleton posted a career-best time of 8.00 in the 60m hurdles at the ASUN Indoor Championships and should be one of the favorites in the conference this season.  Freshmen Wes Watkins along with Tandy and some of the combined eventers will give the Owls a chance to grab some points at the ASUN Indoor Championships.

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the sprints and hurdles groups
"We're a bit shallow in the sprints but this is also a weak area in the conference right now so we should still fare okay.  Our hurdles will certainly be a strength for us this year where I think we could take 5 of the top 6 places."

Combined Eventers
With the graduation of Bilal Abdullah, Andre Dorsey, and Joseph Yates the Owls welcome four freshmen to this group.  Kiyani Anderson, David Lott, Darren Onyirimba and Paris Williams to the Nest. Each of them has been picking up new events quickly so far in practice and the coaches are excited to see what they do in the meets. The lone returner in the group is Josh Mulder who is only competing in outdoor track this season. Mulder is training for the decathlon and hopes to represent KSU again in the NCAA Outdoor Championships as he did in 2015 where he finished 14^th scoring 7244 points.   

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the Combined Eventers
 "Our men's combined event group is all new with the exception of Mulder and this is an event that takes a long time to learn and develop the multiple disciplines.  None-the-less, we have some talented guys who are picking it up so we'll be okay here."

Keep up with Owls track and field teams by following KSU on Twitter at @KSUOwlNation and @KSUTrackFieldXC or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on Facebook.  
 
 

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