Kennesaw, Ga.- The Kennesaw State women's track and field team will begin the indoor season on Friday, January 13 at the ETSU Invitational. The Owls enter this season with their most talented team on the women's side with hopes of capturing their first ASUN championship.  This year's team features 22 freshmen, 10 sophomores, five juniors, and eight seniors.  They 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." This is a young and talented 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 a pair of junior throwers from last season in Kiana Mincy and Greta Pileckaite. Pileckaite had a strong indoor season a year ago which included her career-best throw of 15.52m in the weight throw. Pileckaite will hope to medal in both the weight throw and the shot put after nearly missing making it to the podium at last year's ASUN Indoor Championships. Mincy also had her career-best weight throw of 13.75m in the weight throw last season. The Owls have added a pair of talented throwers in Nia Seldon, and Megan Douglas are expecting big things from them. Douglas competed in four Class 5A State Championships in the shot put and finished no worse than fourth. Seldon won the Class 6A State Championship in the shot put.
   
Coach Eggerth's take on the throwers.
"JU graduated some studly women and we brought in a couple studly freshmen so the tide should swing to our favor in the throws this year.  I'm looking forward to big things from our throwers."

Jumpers
Morgan Campbell, Fallon Reed, Trezha Berryman and Alexis Hunter-Lonon return for the Owls in the jumping events. Campbell took home the bronze medal in the long jump at last year's ASUN Indoor Championships and had a career-best triple jump of 12.11m last season. Reed had a career-best jump of 5.66m in the long jump at the David E. Walker Classic. Berryman will look to continue to improve as a sophomore after a solid freshman indoor campaign which ended with a career-best indoor long jump of 11.88m at the ASUN Championships. Hunter-Lonon will focus more on jumping this year after moving over from the combined events. They will be joined this season by Abigail Chanase, Maggie Millam, Ashley Thomas and Aseneth Williams. Millam was named to the South Carolina High School League All-State team in 2015 after placing first at the state meet in the long jump and triple jump.  Thomas competed in two Class 5A State Championships in the long jump.

In the high jump, the Owls are led by senior Shakedra Robinson. Robinson is the reigning ASUN Conference indoor champion in the high jump. This season, she will be looking soar over her indoor school record high jump of 1.74m she set last year at the UAB Invitational. She will be joined by a pair of freshman jumpers in Dominique Martin and Julija Tarvide. Martin finished fourth in the high jump at the 2015 GHSA State Championships, while Tarvide is a mid-year transfer from Latvia.

Erica Sergeant and Katie Frey return as the team's top pole vaulter's from a year ago. Sergeant is the top returning pole vaulter in the ASUN. She grabbed a silver medal at last year's conference indoor championships. Frey will look to keep improving in her senior year after grabbing a third-place finish at the ASUN Indoor Championships last season. Junior Alicia Rowan has moved over from combined events to focus on pole vault. Freshman Rachel Sherrill will join the group this season having won two Class 6A State Championships in pole vault for Dacula high school.

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the jumpers
"We are really deep in the jumps with a lot of good jumpers but don't necessarily have a superstar standout.   JU has a lot of talent in the horizontals and this is an event area that we'll do serious battle.  In the high jump we should be very strong, but North Florida also has some great high jumpers.  In the pole vault we should rake in some great points."

Sprints and Hurdles
Seniors Maileka Slayton, Diaja Oliver, and Hannah Wood return as the team's top sprinters in 2017. Slayton was the Owls top performer in the 60m, 200m, and 400m-dash last season. She is the reigning ASUN Indoor champion in the 200m and 400m. Oliver opened last indoor season with her career-best time of 7.99 and finished fourth in the 400m at the ASUN Championships. The Owls are hopeful Hannah Wood can return to her 2014 form which helped her win the 60m and 200m at the ASUN Championships.   Freshmen Tionna Fant, Alexandria Andrews, and D'Meka Davis are all expected to help the Owls in their first seasons.

KSU brings back five hurdlers from a year ago. Junior Jocselyn Powell is one of the top hurdlers in the ASUN. She set the school-record in the 60m-hurdles with a time of 8.51 at the UAB Invitational last season, and collected a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the ASUN Indoor Championships. Senior Laura-Maria-Oja ran her career-best time of 8.82 in the 60m hurdles last season.  Dollitia Thomas, Zakirra Mckinnon, Taahirat Taariq and freshman Jirah Simpkins will provide solid depth to this group.

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the sprints and hurdles groups
"We have a lot of talent among the sprinters, but this is an area that has been falling apart for us lately with illnesses and injuries.  Hopefully we'll get it together soon.  Fortunately, our hurdlers have been doing quite well, but this is one of the strongest areas of the conference so it'll still be a challenge."

Combined Eventers
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Gray is the two-time defending indoor ASUN champion in the pentathlon and will look to three-peat this season. In the pentathlon at the ASUN Championships in 2016 she won the high jump, long jump, and the shot put on her way to winning the gold medal. She also was the top collegiate finisher in the pentathlon at the Gladstein Invitational. Senior Shakedra Robinson is solid in the pentathlon and should be able to return to the medal stand in this event in 2016. They will be joined by a very exciting trio of freshman in Aliyah Whisby, Jessica Watkins and Keagan Peppers. All three of the freshman are expected to make an impact in this event in the near future.

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the Combined Eventers
 "We have a blend of developed upperclassmen that are poised for a great year and talented freshman that are learning a bunch of things from scratch, but this is a solid group and will continue to get better."
 
Distance Runners
Senior Kidan Kidane put together one of the strongest seasons from a KSU distance runner ever. She raced a total of 10 times in the 800m, mile, 3k, and 5K and never finished worse than fifth while collecting five wins. Her best performances of the year came at the ASUN Championships where she won two gold medals and a silver medal. She set new school-records in a win the 3K (9:47.56) and the mile run (4:51.93). Kidane also set a new school-record in a second place finish in the 5K (9:47.56) at the ASUN Championships. Sophomore Caitlyn Farrell transferred to KSU from West Georgia where she ran the 3K and 5K will bring experience to the group.  Sophomore Paulette Juieng along with freshmen Kaitlin Franklin, Lexi Froh, Saidah Grant, and Nicole Zaubi will all make their indoor track debuts this spring.

Coach Eggerth's thoughts on the Distance Runners
"Kidan dominated the indoor championship last year, but we've added a lot of new distance talent that we're hoping will contribute this year."
 
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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