By: By Hunter McKay
ASUN Release
KENNESAW, Ga. – Days after winning their first ASUN Outdoor Championship in record fashion over the weekend, the Kennesaw State women's track and field team received a trio of postseason awards the conference announced Thursday. Director of Track and Field
Andy Eggerth has been named ASUN Coach of the Year for the first time on the women's side while
Jordan Gray was named the Most Outstanding Field Athlete and
Julija Tarvide was named Most Outstanding Freshman Athlete for their performances at the conference championships.
Eggerth led the women to their first ASUN Outdoor Championship victory. His women's team shattered the previous ASUN scoring record with 274.50 points in the two-day meet as the team finished 141.5 points ahead of 11-time reigning ASUN Champion Jacksonville. Those 274.5 points were the most scored by any Division I women's outdoor conference championship winning team in 2017. The Owls collected 24 total medals including 10 gold medals at the meet.
"Glory to God," Eggerth said. "He is where all blessings flow from, and His favor allows me to be successful. He has placed me in a great situation, surrounded by outstanding people. This award is really more for my staff. I drive them hard and they perform in recruiting first and then in mentoring and coaching toward excellence. They had our student-athletes ready to take care of business even though they couldn't be present to enjoy what we always work so hard toward. Thank you to my student-athletes, thank you to my coaches, and thank you to our administration that supports us to be champions. I am nothing, the people surrounding me are everything."
Gray is highest ranked athlete in the ASUN at 11th in the nation in the heptathlon. She won the heptathlon at the ASUN Championships scoring a meet and KSU school record 5641 points winning by almost 900 points. Her point total was 11th-best in the NCAA this season and qualified her for the NCAA National Championships. The sophomore won all seven events in the heptathlon at the ASUN Championships. She set the heptathlon school and ASUN Outdoor Championships heptathlon records in shot put 12.94m (42'2.5) and javelin throw 39.02m (128'0). The Ball Ground, Georgia native set a school heptathlon record in long jump with a leap of 6.11m (20'0.5). She came back later in the day to win open javelin with a career-best toss of 39.45m (129'5). Gray finished third in the high jump with a leap of 1.71m (5'7.25).
"
Jordan Gray is such a pleasure to work with," Eggerth said. "Between Jordan, Coach Agne (Eggerth), and myself we had a common goal of becoming better, becoming national class, breaking limits and barriers. We are a coach-athlete team all with a similar mission, pulling together, in sync. As coaches we give our everything, so it's a really fun process when Jordan brings the same passion and work ethic to the table and you can see really good things happen. Jordan is perhaps the hardest worker and the most disciplined off the track, so she is the most deserving to be recognized."
Tarvide won the gold medal and qualified for the first round of the NCAA Championships with a leap of 1.74m (5'8.5) in her lone event at the ASUN Championships. Her leap of 1.74m at the ASUN Championships was the best high jump of anybody this outdoor season.
"Julija is really developing nicely" Eggerth said. "After just coming to the US in January our main goal was to stay out of her way and not mess her up, just let her do her thing. She is learning our training system, buying in, and adapting very nicely. Needless to say she's started off pretty strong with an indoor and outdoor championship under her belt, but we're seeing things really start to click for her, so I'm hoping for big things at the NCAA Championship next week, and I'm really excited for even bigger things in her future."
16 Owls will continue their seasons at the NCAA Championships in Lexington, Kentucky at the UK Outdoor Track and Field Complex May, 25-27.
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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