By: KSU Sports Information
Kennesaw, Ga. – Kennesaw State track and field kicks off their outdoor season this weekend as they travel to Jacksonville, Fla. to compete in the UNF Spring Break Invitational on Mar. 2-3. The meet hosted by the North Florida Ospreys features schools from all over the region as well as multiple Atlantic Sun Conference schools.
The event will be held at Hodges Stadium track and field facility that opened in August 2008 and is one of three IAAF Class II facilities in the United States. The stadium boasts a nine-lane Mondotrack SX surface with full markings for all NCAA and IAAF events, including the ability to run directional events in either direction on either straight.
The men return to the facility after winning their second straight Atlantic Sun Outdoor Conference Championship at the track last season, beating ETSU by 66 points. The Owls look for that same success this weekend, as they are coming off yet another conference championship title for the indoor season in Johnson City, Tenn. two weekends ago.
“We have a lot of athletes that are banged up right now,” head coach
Andy Eggerth said. “This is an opportunity for us to get acclimated to competing outdoors and prep ourselves for a long outdoor season.”
The women are also expected to fare well, as they capped off their 2012 indoor season with a point total of 143 to have the closest finish to Jacksonville since 2006. Additionally, the Black and Gold captured five individual titles and earned 16 All-Conference Honorees. The squad also set two conference records, broke 34 school records and tallied 34 new personal best to emerge as a true contender of the A-Sun Conference.
At their first outdoor meet last season, junior
Suzee Mills set a new personal best in the javelin with a 43 meter throw, good enough for first place. Mills has yet again positioned herself for that same feat this weekend, after her recent victory in the weight throw at the 2012 Indoor Conference Championship with a distance of 18.07 meters.
On the men’s side, senior
Kendall Parks lead the squad at last season’s first outdoor meet after placing first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.10 seconds. Parks is coming off an exceptional indoor season as well, winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.05 seconds with teammate
Brian Graham finishing second with a time of 8.24. Graham’s success came in the heptathlon at the 2012 Indoor Championship, as he snagged a first place finish and conference meet record.
Action at the two-day event begins on Friday with the hammer throw at 9:00 a.m. For updates about the invitational, you can follow the team on Twitter @KSUTrackFieldXC.
