COLUMBUS — In the stacked Jesse Owens Classic field at The Ohio State University in Columbus last Friday evening, Aiden Kammler was Shawnee State’s only outdoor track and field participant.

However, Kammler — once again — represented the Shawnee State nameplate in the best and brightest of manners.

Competing against a field full of national powerhouses, Kammler blitzed his way to yet another NAIA National ‘A’ Standard, as his 14:25.78 time in the 5,000-meter run not only bettered 23 NCAA Division I runners, but was the second-fastest time in the entire event.

And, that was out of the 45 individuals that took part in Friday’s stacked field on the famed Jesse Owens Memorial Stadum course, which sits off Fred Taylor Drive just off West Lane Avenue and Olentangy River Road.

Kammler, who ran a 14:25.78, beat the necessary NAIA ‘A’ Standard time by over 22 seconds — and was one of just four runners to run underneath the 14:30 threshold.

The surefire future SSU Hall of Famer bettered those aforementioned NCAA Division I runners from seven different programs — as Kammler finished ahead of every runner from Connecticut, Dayton, Miami (Ohio), Ohio University, Ohio State, Wright State and Youngstown State.

The only runner to finish ahead of Kammler was Bowling Green’s Anthony Sweet, who ran a 14:24.49 to edge Kammler out by less than a second-and-a-half.

Kammler’s 5,000-meter run time at the Jesse Owens Classic is currently the eighth-fastest 5,000-meter run performance in the NAIA this season.

The Portsmouth product had already churned out a blistering time of 29:59.71 in the 10,000-meter run just three weekends ago at the Lee Flames’ Fast Break Athletics Invitational — which is currently the fifth-fastest time nationally in that event.

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