Aggie senior John Kyriazis named to The Bowerman men's preseason watch list

NEW ORLEANS – Texas A&M senior John Kyriazis is among the 10 athletes selected for The Bowerman men's preseason watch list. Kryiazis was a semifinalist for the prestigious honor during a junior campaign in 2017 in which he won a NCAA championship in the javelin as well as a third SEC title in the event.
 
Half of The Bowerman preseason watch list is made up of seniors and half of the list is from the SEC. Joining Kyriazis from the SEC are Nathon Allen (Auburn), KeAndre Bates (Florida), Grant Holloway (Florida), and Kemar Mowatt (Arkansas).
 
Also among the 10 athletes on the preseason watch list are Cameron Burrell (Houston), Isaiah Harris (Penn State), Josh Kerr (New Mexico), Justyn Knight (Syracuse), and Chris Nilsen (South Dakota).
 
During the summer, Kryiazis placed sixth in the IAAF World Championships representing his native Greece. In season ending merit rankings for the javelin, Kyriazis was sixth in the world rankings produced by Athletics International and ranked seventh in the world rankings by Track & Field News.
 
Kyriazis opened the 2017 season with a massive one-attempt throw of 288 feet, 9 inches (88.01) to break the Texas Relays meet record and threatened the collegiate record of 292-4 (89.10), which was set in Austin in 1990 by Longhorn Patrik Boden. The effort by Kyriazis was the second farthest throw by a collegian.
 
Kyriazis bettered the Texas Relays meet record of 274-2 (83.56) set by Boden in 1990 and the Myers Stadium facility record of 283-5 (86.38) established by professional Boris Henry of Germany in 2001. Kyriazis added 20 feet to his winning mark of 268-7 (81.87) from the 2016 Texas Relays.
 
Another one attempt performance by Kyriazis during the SEC Championships produced a mark of 262-11 (80.15), which broke the meet record of 261-4 (79.65) set in 2009 by Georgia's Chris Hill.
 
Using a full allotment of six attempts during the NCAA Championships, Kyriazis broke the meet record with a throw of 270-11 (82.58) and bettered the field by 19 feet. That effort bettered the previous meet record of 268-7 (81.86) set by Arizona's Esko Mikkola in 1998.
 
Summer events also included a pair of 283-foot performances for Kyriazis as he placed second (283-3 | 86.33) in the European Team Championships and won the Greece national title (283-7 | 86.44).