Greyhounds Win 5th Consecutive Landmark Indoor Title
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College men’s indoor track & field team captured its fifth straight Landmark Conference Championship Saturday at Susquehanna University, defeating the host Crusaders by 18 points, 213-195.
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's indoor track & field team captured its fifth straight Landmark Conference Championship Saturday at Susquehanna University, defeating the host Crusaders by 18 points, 213-195.
The Greyhounds swept the individual awards with junior Dillon Farrell earned Track Athlete of the Year honors, senior Kristopher Joint winning Field Athlete of the Year accolades for the second straight year and freshman Kahron Walker taking Rookie of the Year honors. Third-year Head Coach Jesse Baumann and his staff were named the Co-Coaching Staff of the Year with the Susquehanna coaches.
"It was a very tough meet," stated Baumann. "It seemed that everything that could have gone wrong with the men did, with some injuries, dropped batons, and some races/events just not going as we had planned. Meanwhile, Susquehanna kept rising to the occasion which made for a very stress-filled meet."
Moravian dominated the jumping events, picking up four first place finishes. Sophomore Ryan Karnopp earned his first conference title in the pole vault with a mark of 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5 ¼ inches) while Walker won the high jump at 1.88 meters (six feet, two inches).
Joint won his second straight title in the long jump with an ECAC qualifying mark of 7.17 meters (23 feet, 6 ½ inches), a season best that moves him to eighth on the Track & Field Results Reporting list with the top 15 making the NCAA Championship meet in two weeks. Sophomore Albert Myers finished second with an ECAC mark of 6.77 meters (22 feet, 2 ½ inches) while Walker was third at 6.51 meters (21 feet, 4 ¼ inches).
Joint won the triple jump for the fourth straight year at the conference meet with an ECAC qualifying mark of 14.37 meters (47 feet, 1 ¾ inches). Junior Chris Ossont was third in the event. Joint also finished in a tie for second in the high jump at 1.83 meters (six feet).
The Greyhounds also took the top four spots in the men's 35-pound weight throw with junior Jeffrey Gallagher winning the event at 14.35 meters (47 feet, one inch). Senior Timothy Lorah was second at 14.25 meters (46 feet, nine inches) while freshman Matt Jones finished third with a toss of 13.03 meters (46 feet, ½ inch) and junior Parker Munson was fourth at 13.92 meters (45 feet, eight inches). Freshman Greg Cahill took sixth in the event as the Greyhounds earned 29 of a possible 31 points in the event.
Moravian also took the second through seventh spots in the shot put with Munson earning the runner-up spot at 13.82 meters (45 feet, 4 ¼ inches). Cahill finished third for the Hounds while sophomore Jacob Fritz was fourth, Jones finished fifth, senior Frank Yannotta was sixth and freshman Ljuboslav Boskic took seventh.
Farrell picked up the Greyhounds first championship of the meet on the track with a winning time and ECAC qualifying mark of 15:21.88 in the 5,000-meter run. Farrell also won the 3,000-meter run with a personal record time of 8:58.20. Freshman Cory Taggert captured the 800-meter run title with an ECAC qualifying time of 1:57.64.
Myers led the Hounds' five finalists in the 60-meter dash finals with a time of 7.11 seconds, just one hundredth shy of the ECAC qualifying mark. Freshman Matt Barnett was second in the race and followed by freshmen Marquise Bourgeois, Jamil Poole and Austin Gardener as Moravian earned 21 points in the race.
Gardener was back on the track later and posted a runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash in 23.21 seconds. Poole placed fifth and sophomore Gavin Bailey was sixth to earn valuable team points for the Greyhounds.
Senior Yacine Zerdoum was third in the 400-meter dash in 52.42 seconds while Bailey finished fourth and sophomore Tyler Dwyer was sixth to garner points in the team score.
Dwyer, Bailey, Bourgeois and Taggert finished second in the final race of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay.
Senior Craig Arner paced the Greyhounds in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.09 seconds while senior David Cariello took fifth.
"We had some incredible performances in the 60m with some huge PRs by Matt Barnett, Jamil Poole, and Marquise Bourgeois," Baumann said. "Dillon Farrell had a great double, Kris Joint not only scored 27 points by himself, but solidified his chances of making NCAAs in the long jump, and the overall depth of our jumps and throws ultimately sealed the meet for us, but it certainly was a tough battle."
Moravian will return to action on Friday and Saturday, March 7 & 8 at the 2014 ECAC Division III Indoor Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts.
