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McKinzie Takes First Place at Tom Jones Memorial Classic
Jan. 27, 2008
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Kennesaw State men's Indoor track team once again had a banner weekend as they stood shoulder to shoulder with many of the best programs in the nation at the Toms Jones Memorial Classic. During the exciting one day meet the team broke six KSU records and had numerous top ten finishes. The highlight of the competition was sophomore Jerome McKinzie taking first place in the high jump. All eyes in the O'Connell Center were on McKinzie as he cleared the bar at 6-10.75ft. The sophomore defeated his nearest competitor, Andrew Bachelor of the Florida State University, as neither two jumpers could break the seven foot mark. McKinzie was awarded first place as he had remained error free through out the contest. "Jerome had his best meet of the year," said field coach Mike Goss. "He is a far better jumper today than he was a year ago. He has improved so much and I'm very pleased by that. He was up against some tough guys today, but he remained focused and confident." The Owls had their second best finish of the day as Joshua McNair took fifth place in the weight throw. The sophomore tossed the 35 pound weight for a distance of 55-02.75ft. to set a new school record. He later threw the shot put 46-03.50ft. for a 13th place finish. His teammate Casey Strickland took home tenth place with a throw of 50-05.25ft. In Sprint events, freshman Gianni Catalano took ninth place in the 800 meter dash as he finished with a time of 1:56.20. Catalano easily won his heat as he set a KSU record and shaved off two seconds from his personal best time. He later returned to the track to participate in the distance medley alongside Michael Guntner, Piotr Witczak and Nathan Haskins. The team set a new record as they finished in fourth place with a time of 10:30.25. In the mile run Haskins and Witczak edged ever closer to breaking the 4:20 mark as they took first and second place in their heat. Haskins finished the race with a time of 4:23.74 for 17th place overall, while Witczak took 18th place with a time of 4:23.79. The two runners remain determined to cut their time down in the coming weeks. Freshman Joshua James had a break out day as he first set a new KSU record in the 55m dash (6.61 seconds) and then another one in the 200m dash (22.81 seconds). He later raced in the 4x400m relay with teammates Devin Jones, Antonio Logan and James Verdi. KSU was trailing until the final leg of the race when the baton was passed to 400m specialist Verdi. The freshman was narrowly defeated for first place in the heat, but his 49 second split team secured a new KSU 4x400m record (3:23.44). "I can always count on Verdi to give a 100%," said sprint coach Devin West. "When he got that baton he put himself into high gear. By the end of 400m he was ready to pass out. The will to give a race everything you got is the mark of a true runner." In distance events the Owls were led by Peikko Solla as he finished the 3 kilometer run in 11th place with a time 8:47.53. The sophomore ran the first three laps in last place but quickly began to move up in the pack as the race progressed. At the end of the 15 lap run Solla had secured a second place finish in his heat. He was closely followed by junior Michael Johnson (8:55.55) and freshman Steven Murray (9:04.95). "This is by far our best meet of the season," said head coach Don McGarey. "We were facing great teams from Florida State, Southern Miss and South Carolina and we competed on the same level as they did. This is young team that is hungry for victory. No matter where we go or who we race we are going finish strong and do our best. We proved that this weekend and we are going to keep on doing it." The Owls will be back in action next week as they travel to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to compete in the Texas Roadhouse Invitational. Results High Jump Weight Throw Mile 800m Shot Put 200m 55m Hurdles Preliminaries 55m Dash Distance Medley 4x400m Relay |
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