Moravian Women Claim 5th Straight Landmark Conference Indoor Championship
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College women’s indoor track & field team continued its dominance of the Landmark Conference Championships as the squad claimed its fifth consecutive title in the five-year history of the conference Saturday.
SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's indoor track & field team continued its dominance of the Landmark Conference Championships as the squad claimed its fifth consecutive title in the five-year history of the conference Saturday. It is also the 19th indoor conference championship for the Moravian women.
The women's squad had its closest competition in five years, defeating host Susquehanna University by 34 points. The Greyhounds claimed six individual champions and one relay title while posting 159 points while the Crusaders had 125 points. The Catholic University of America was a distant third with 82 points, followed by Goucher College with 77 points, Juniata College with 63 points and The United States Merchant Marine Academy with 18 points.
The Greyhounds also had the women's Track Athlete of the Year in senior Lisa Williamson and the Field Athlete of the Year in junior Micah Leonard. Williamson won the 60-meter dash in 8.23 seconds after an ECAC qualifying time of 8.10 seconds in the preliminaries, and she was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash in 27.25 seconds and the 400-meter sash in 1:02.02. Williamson also ran on Moravian's winning 4x400-meter relay team with senior Kristina Ruggiero and freshmen Morgan Redmond and Brielle Sutter with a time of 4:10.57, the seventh fastest time in school history.
Leonard captured the long jump with a meet record and ECAC qualifying leap of 5.52 meters (18 feet, 1 ½ inches), the ninth best distance in school history. The jump also moved Leonard up to a tie for 15th on the Track & Field Results Reporting Systems to qualify for the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championships in two weeks. The top 15 women on the TFRRS list in each event will compete at the national meet. Leonard tied her own meet record in the triple jump, which she originally set in 2010, with an ECAC qualifying mark of 11.31 meters (37 feet, 1 ¼ inches). That distance is 21st on the TFRRS list but Leonard is already 15th.
Senior Abby Schaffer captured her second straight Landmark Conference Championship in the pole vault, clearing an ECAC qualifying height of 4.01 meters (13 feet, 1 ¾ inches), the sixth best height in school history and moving her back into a tie for second on the latest TFRRS list. Sutter has Moravian's two other individual championships, winning the 200-meter dash in an ECAC qualifying time of 26.75 seconds, and capturing the 400-meter dash with an ECAC qualifying mark of 59.75 seconds.
In other track results for the women, Redmond placed third in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.66 seconds and sixth in the 200-meter dash in 27.783 seconds while freshman Brianna Wright was fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.40, and she was fifth in the 60-meter dash in 8.57 seconds and fifth in the 60-meter hurdles in 10.28 seconds. Ruggiero was the runner-up in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:26.15, and she was fifth in the mile run at 5:32.69 while freshman Clare DelCasale took third in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 19:19.40. Sophomore Jennifer Smilgis was sixth in the mile run at 5:37.43.
Sophomore Allison Vanek was the runner-up in the pole vault, clearing an ECAC qualifying height of 3.50 meters (11 feet, 5 ¾ inches), and she was also third in the long jump with an ECAC qualifying distance of 5.29 meters (17 feet, 4 ¼ inches). Freshman Hailey Kester took third in the pole vault with an ECAC qualifying mark of 3.35 meters (10 feet, 11 ¾ inches) while freshman Dana Fineman was fourth at 3.05 meters (ten feet).
Freshman Jenny Kratch led the Greyhounds in the throwing events with a third place finish in the shot put after a toss of 10.93 meters (35 feet, 10 ½ inches) and a fifth place showing in the 20-pound weight throw at 12.68 meters (41 feet, 7 ¼ inches).
All of the student-athletes that won events also earned Landmark All-Conference First Team honors while those that finished as the runner-up in an event or relay were named to the Landmark All-Conference Second Team.
Moravian will have a last chance for competitors to move up the TFRRS list next Friday and Saturday, March 2nd and 3rd as those that have qualified will compete at the 2012 ECAC Division III Indoor Championships hosted by Rutgers University-Newark at the New York City Armory.
