Saturday, February 27, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – With a final lunge, Kennesaw State freshman Ethan Kasson held off a valiant anchor leg in ETSU’s Duronal Monal to give the Owls their second Atlantic Sun Indoor Track and Field Championship title.

The Buccaneers entered the final event needing to make up two points on the Owls after Kenneth Rotich took second and Ben Ronoh placed fifth in the 5,000-meter run. The Owls picked up valuable points at the back end of the race with Nabil Hamid scoring two for seventh place and Nathan Haskins beating Belmont’s Jordan Anderson by seven one-thousandths of the second for eighth and one point. The Owls’ first three legs of the relay, David Tansey, Daniel Grass, and Jemir Martinez built up a wide margin and ETSU sat in third forcing Monal to tie, in vain, to keep the title with ETSU.

A pair of Owls earned individual victories, helping push the squad to the top of the standings, and neither came with much surprise. For the fourth straight year, Jerome McKinzie laid claim as the top high jumper, clearing an A-Sun record 2.09-meters. In the 800-meter run, Gianni Catalano won his third consecutive title, doing so in a record 1:53.43.

The Bucs opened the day with a 23-point advantage and quickly built on it when Nic Chernikow successfully repeated as the champion of the heptathlon, using top scores in the 60-meter hurdles and the 1,000-meter run to edge out teammate Jordan Briggs. First-day leader Matt Fiedler, from Belmont, took third.

Monal won Most Outstanding Track Performer as well as the Championship MVP on the strength of winning two events in A-Sun Championship record times. He won the 60-meter dash for a second straight year and took home the top spot in the 200-meter dash. In addition to setting an A-Sun mark, his time of 21.22 met NCAA Provisional status.

One day after winning its first gold medal in the relay, the distance medley, Lipscomb’s men earned its first top finish in an individual event as Ryan Chastain capped a stellar indoor season by taking the top spot in the mile. Belmont’s Joe Frye won his first title, taking the weight throw in 18.03m.

Campbell’s Adonnis Jones successfully repeated as the champion in the 60-meter hurdles. For the third consecutive year, Campbell’s Harold Sims emerged victorious in the 400-meter dash. His three winning times rank as the three fastest in A-Sun Championship history and represent the only times less than 49 seconds.

A third Camel made headlines on the day as Robert Brunson added a win in the triple jump to his Friday night victory in the long jump. He joins the former Camels’ Lincoln Gordon, in 2006, and Sam Tilly, in 2008, along with ETSU’s Josh Cloyd as those who have captured both jumping events. For his efforts, he won the Most Outstanding Field Performer award. USC Upstate’s Gilbert Kemboi, winner of the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs, won the Most Outstanding Freshman performer

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.