Men Sweep Field Events for 6th Straight Landmark Indoor Title
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College men’s indoor track & field team had eight event winners including all six field events as the Greyhounds captured their sixth straight and seventh overall Landmark Conference Indoor Championship at the 2015 meet hosted by Susquehanna University Saturday.
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's indoor track & field team had eight event winners including all six field events as the Greyhounds captured their sixth straight and seventh overall Landmark Conference Indoor Championship at the 2015 meet hosted by Susquehanna University Saturday.
The Greyhounds posted a team score of 203 to finish 30 points ahead of the host Crusaders while Landmark newcomer Elizabethtown College was third with 62 points.
"Going into the meet, we projected it as basically a dead heat between Susquehanna and us, so we knew we needed people to step up," commented Head Coach Jesse Baumann, who along with his assistants earned Landmark Coaching Staff of the Year. "The first event was a perfect start when in the first section of the men's long jump Geronimo Santana and Chris Ossont posted huge season PRs. It added a ton of energy to the team and Kahron and Gavin each followed up with about 1 foot PRs themselves turning the long jump into a big swing event in the meet over what we expected.
"Throughout the day we had great performances. Our short sprinters really rose to the occasion with Matt Barnett coming back after a two week injury, and Eric Morton, Travis Dorsa, and Jamil Poole having arguably their best meets of their careers," continued Baumann. "Parker Munson pulled off a bit of an upset in the shot put, Greg Cahill set a tremendous PR that even he didn't see coming in the weight throw, and in general the throwers rose to the occasion for us."
"Despite all of this, the meet was still up for grabs going into the 3K when Dillon Farrell gutted out another big Landmark performance for us after missing about five weeks due to injury to seal the victory for the team. To cap off the night, in the 4x4 Tyler Dwyer, Travis Dorsa, and Esco Blaylock ran tremendous legs to give Cory Taggert the lead. Cory had a tough task of holding off the 400m champ, but had a thrilling kick off the last turn to win the 4x400 in as exciting a fashion as you can have. It was a great day for the men with so many people stepping up at key times. The coaching staff couldn't be prouder of how they performed," finished Baumann.
Sophomore Greg Cahill got the Greyhounds off to a good start in the 35-pound weight throw with a first-place and ECAC qualifying toss of 15.50 meters (50-10.25), a career-best toss for Cahill by 4-7.5 and the fifth best throw in school history. Cahill was one of four Greyhounds to score in the event with sophomore Matt Jones in second at 14.61 meters (47-11.25), senior Jeffrey Gallagher in third at 14.45 meters (47-5) and freshman Jack Lippin in fifth place at 13.70 meters (44-11.5).
Moravian would also dominate the shot put with senior Parker Munson taking first with an ECAC qualifying mark of 15.09 meters (49-6.25), the seventh-best mark in school history. Lippin was third in the event at 13.88 meters (45-6.5) while Jones took fifth at 13.14 meters (43-1.5) and sophomore Ljuboslav Boskic finished sixth at 13.12 meters (43-0.5). The Hounds would score a total of 48 points in the throws.
The Greyhounds were also strong in the jumps led by sophomore Kahron Walker, who was named the Landmark Field Athlete of the Year in a vote of the conference coaches after the meet. Walker won the high jump with an ECAC qualifying mark of 1.93 meters (6-4), and he was the runner-up in both the long jump with an ECAC qualifying distance of 6.77 meters (22-2.5) and the triple jump with an ECAC qualifying leap of 13.54 meters (44-5.25).
Junior Gavin Bailey won the long jump as he hit 7.00 meters (22-11.75) for the first time in his career, extending his ECAC qualifying mark from earlier this season. Senior Chris Ossont was victorious in the triple jump with an ECAC qualifying distance of 13.86 meters (45-3.75). Ossont was also fourth in the long jump at 6.58 meters (21-7.25) while freshman Geronimo Santana earned the Hounds a point in the long jump with a sixth-place leap of 6.49 meters (21-3.5).
Junior Ryan Karnopp finished off the sweep in the field events for Moravian by winning the pole vault at an ECAC qualifying height of 4.80 meters (15-9), tied for ninth in the Greyhounds' record books.
The Hounds would pick up two gold medals on the track with sophomore Cory Taggert capturing the 800-meter run in 1:57.28 and then running the anchor leg of the final event of the meet, the 4x400 meter relay, with juniors Travis Dorsa and Tyler Dwyer and freshman Esco Blaylock as the quartet won in a time of 3:30.60, the ninth fastest time in school history.
Moravian picked up 19 points for the team score in the 60-meter dash with sophomore Matt Barnett in second in a time of 7.12 seconds, freshman Eric Morton, who was voted as the Rookie of the Year, in third place in 7.14 seconds, Santana in fourth in 7.315 seconds and sophomore Jamil Poole in sixth place in 7.320 seconds.
Bailey would take third in the 200-meter dash in 23.37 seconds, and he was also third in the 400-meter dash in 52.04 seconds. Morton finished fourth in the 200-meter dash in 23.51 seconds while Dorsa took sixth in 23.64 seconds. Dwyer was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 52.52 seconds. Junior Ryan Sickler was fifth in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.121 seconds. Poole, Morton, Dorsa and sophomore Jordan Sweeney ran to a second place time of 1:34.12 in the 4x200-meter relay.
Senior Dillon Farrell was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter run in an ECAC qualifying time of 8:50.36, the fourth-best time in school history, and he took third in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 15:28.30. Freshman Robert Cahill was fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:01.86 while senior Alec Duncan finished sixth in the mile run at 4:28.09. Moravian's distance medley relay squad of Robert Cahill, Blaylock and freshmen Mike Kopach and Austin Stetler finished second in 10:46.29, the seventh-best time in school history.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Friday and Saturday, March 6-7 at the 2015 ECAC Division III Indoor Championships at the New York City Armory in the squad's final chance to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championships in two weeks.
