Moravian Men Claim Fourth Straight Landmark Conference Outdoor Title
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Moravian College men’s track & field squad captured its fourth consecutive Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships by winning the 2018 meet hosted by Elizabethtown College Sunday.
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's track & field squad captured its fourth consecutive Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships by winning the 2018 meet hosted by Elizabethtown College Sunday.
The Hounds have won 10 total Landmark Conference Outdoor championship, and caputed the 2018 title by just 23.5 points over Elizabethtown with the Hounds scoring 241.5 points to 218 for the Blue Jays. Head Coach Jesse Baumann and his staff were selected as the Landmark Conference Male Coaching Staff of the Year.
"We knew it'd be tight with Elizabethtown and it got even tougher at the meet as they had a tremendous meet, so congrats to them," stated Baumann. "Our men managed to step up too, though. There are too many strong performances to name them all, but it was undeniably a full team effort. It's incredible the amount of PRs we had, even at the end of the meet in the 4x4 when some guys were on their 5th race of the weekend and still running better than they have all season while fresh. I can't effectively express my gratitude and appreciation towards the team for their efforts all season and especially this weekend, and just as important to our coaching staff. Steve Rahn, Bill Ferguson, Jon D'Ottavio, Mike El Kazzaz, Sarah Werner, and Bob Luciano are the real reasons our team sees the success they do so I want to thank them for the effort they put into this program."
The Greyhounds seven individual event champions on Sunday with a pair of student-athletes picking up two titles apiece. Freshman Zion Howard won the 100-meter dash in 10.89 seconds and he captured the 200-meter dash in 21.85 seconds to be selected as the Landmark Conference Male Rookie of the Year while junior John Spirk doubled up in the hurdles, winning the 110-meter high hurdles for the third straight year in 14.76 seconds and capturing the 400-meter hurdles for the third consecutive spring in a time of 55.87 seconds.
Senior Robert Condo won the javelin for a second straight year with a throw of 60.04 meters (197-0) while sophomore Ryan Harper captured the shot put for the second consecutive year with a toss of 13.75 meters (45-1.5). Sophomore Justin Beasley-Turner won the 800-meter run in a career-best time of 1:55.25.
Howard was also part of both of the Greyhounds' relay teams that finished in second place. He ran with senior Eric Morton and junior Chris Antoine and Brian Stock to a runner-up in the 4x100-meter relay in 52.61 seconds, and Howard joined Spirk, senior Andrew Mitchell and freshman Sean McFarland for a second place in the final event, the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:21.11.
Sophomore Greg Jaindl was the runner-up in two events Sunday with second place finishes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:29.37 and the 5,000-meter run in 15:27.28. Sophomore Roland Cash took second in the triple jump with a leap of 13.53 meters (44-4.75).
In other top eight track results to earn points for the Greyhounds Sunday, Morton placed fifth in the 100-meter dash in 11.33 seconds and freshman Michael Elo was eighth in the race in 11.93 seconds while McFarland took third in the 400-meter dash in 50.19 seconds and sixth in the 200-meter dash final in 22.92 seconds. Junior Woodrow Battle was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:00.49, and he finished seventh in the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.90 seconds.
Mitchell was third in the 800-meter run in 1:56.04 while junior Devon Harris was fifth in 1:56.69 and senior Mike Kopach finished eighth in 1:58.78. Senior Josh Toth placed sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:36.65 while Harris was sixth in the 5,000-meter run in 15:40.15 and followed by sophomore Gavin Kemery in eighth at 15:48.24.
In other top eight field results on Sunday, freshman Shane Mastro was third in the shot put with a toss of 13.52 meters (44-4.25) while sophomore Nick Cregar was sixth in the javelin with a mark of 45.84 meters (150-5). Elo placed third in the triple jump at 13.10 meters (42-11.75) while Cash tied for eighth in the high jump at 1.68 meters (5-6).
Moravian is slated to return to action on Monday, May 14 at the Swarthmore College Last Chance Meet as the teams look to qualify for the 2018 NCAA Division III National Championships later this month in Wisconsin.
