By Adam Carrington

acarrington@mdjonline.com

WOODSTOCK - The Kennesaw Mountain girls are setting themselves up to win their first Region 5AAAAA track and field championship.

It's either been Marietta's or McEachern's region in recent years, but the Lady Mustangs lead by two points going into today's finals which get under way at 5 p.m. at Woodstock High School.

After Monday's meet, the Lady Mustangs posted a mark of 34 points after four events, but Marietta is gaining with 32. Etowah is third with 20 points, while East Paulding is fourth with 14.

Kennesaw Mountain's strength lies in its field events, which certainly showed in the first day of the meet Monday night. Daina Levy won the discus with a throw of 120 feet, 4 inches and is favored to win the shot put today. Ivana Osanyindi tied with Marietta's Kristiana Person for first by jumping 5 feet even, but Osanyindi clinched the title based on fewer missed jumps.

Tyler Burns contributed to Kennesaw Mountain's point total when she took fourth in the long jump in 15 feet-9 inches.

"It will be close," Kennesaw Mountain coach Cindy Faulkner said. "We should do well in the triple jump, we should do well in the pole vault, and we should do well in the shot put, so our field events will be our strong suit. We qualified in several running events so it will be interesting."

The Lady Mustangs are also expecting to get points in the running events.

They qualified two teams for the finals in the 400-meter relay. Osanyindi and Kyndall Caldwell made the final cut in the 200 meters. Janine Walters qualified in the 300 hurdles, and Anna Vonck will be running in the 800 final after taking sixth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:30.79.

However, creating a larger cushion against Marietta may be a difficult task. The Lady Blue Devils scored well in the long jump with Person taking second (17-00.25) and Whitney Stevenson taking third (16-07.50) behind Etowah's Leah Hixon (17-04.25). They also gained ground with Person's second place showing in the high jump and Maggie Henderson's third place finish (5:26.70) in the 1,600.

Marietta's depth will play a role in the running events today. Stevenson will run the 100 and 100 hurdles. Breona Meyers will run the 100 and 200. Ciera Echols will partake in the 800, and Person and Kourtney Keller will run the 300 hurdles.

"We thought we were the best overall team from top to bottom, but Kennesaw has shown that they have some really good runners," Marietta coach Chad Christman said. "We'll have to hope for the best."

Levy's win in the discus was expected but Osanyindi's victory in the high jump was Kennesaw Mountain's first since 2002. Faulkner even admitted afterwards that Faulkner's win was unexpected.

"Ivana, it was just a tremendous effort," Faulkner said. "We were surprised at that. (Her victory) came out of nowhere. We were expecting her to finish third or fourth."

Defending champion McEachern is expecting to make a surge today in the sprinting department. The Lady Indians' 400 relay team is a favorite to win today's final. Darneshia Stevenson is the frontrunner to clinch the 100 and 100 hurdles, and Amber Bryant-Brock is projected to win the 400 and 300 hurdles.