2007-08 Men's and Women's Track & Field Teams - New Moravian Hall of Fame Inductee
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The 2007-08 men’s and women’s track & field teams are being inducted into the Moravian University Athletic Hall of Fame on October 8, 2021 in Johnston Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The 2007-08 men's and women's track & field teams are being inducted into the Moravian University Athletic Hall of Fame on October 8, 2021 in Johnston Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m.
The men's team won both the inaugural Landmark Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships hosted by the Greyhounds, won its first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III title outdoors and was runner-up indoors and placed 17th out of the 81 teams that scored and had two All-American at the 2008 NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships and was sixth of 66 at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. The team was under the direction of first-year head coach Walt Wandall, who was named the 2008 NCAA Division III Men's National Indoor Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Wandall and his staff were also named the Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year for the 2008 indoor season.
At the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, Ozzie Brown, who was named the 2008 Mideast Region Male Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA, captured first place in the decathlon, with a school record total of 7,192 points, and earned All-American honors for the fourth time in his career and first time in the decathlon. Brown's point total was the seventh highest in NCAA Division III history since 1985 when the decathlon moved into its current format. Nathaniel Tussey also competed at the NCAA National Championships where he earned All-American Honors in both the 110-meter high hurdles, in a time of 14.50 seconds, and the 400-meter hurdles in a school record time of 52.01 seconds.
At the 2008 ECAC Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Greyhounds won their first ever ECAC Championship. Brown was named the ECAC Male Outstanding Performer of the Meet, after winning three individual titles and a relay, and placing second in a fourth individual event and a second relay event. Brown won the 200-meter dash in a time of 21.62 seconds, the 110-meter high-hurdles in 14.37 seconds and the long jump with a leap of 7.10 meters (23 feet, 3 ½ inches). Brown was the runner-up in the 100-meter dash in 10.82 seconds. Tussey ran a time of 14.45 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles, which was good enough for second behind Brown, and he was also second in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.55 seconds. Brown joined with James Bell, Robert Shaffer and Eric Woodruff to win the 4x100-meter relay in a school record time of 41.72 seconds while Brown teamed with Tussey and Warner Jones and Connor Skutches for a second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:19.25. Shaffer also took third in the 100-meter dash in 10.93 seconds and Woodruff took sixth place in 11.07 seconds. Blair Maginnis got third in the shot put with a heave of 15.10 meters (49 feet, 6 ½ inches).
At the NCAA Indoor championships, Brown captured the NCAA Division III National Championship in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.31 meters (23 feet, 11 3/4 inches) on his third and final jump of the preliminaries, and the distance held up to win the meet. Brown also earned All-America honors as he finished third in the 55-meter high hurdles in a time of 7.51 seconds.
The women's outdoor squad brought home both the inaugural Landmark Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships, won the 2008 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III Indoor and Outdoor Championships, and placed 43rd of 83 at 2008 NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships with two All-America athletes and tied for 38th of 67 at the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships with one All-American. Wandall and his staff were named the Landmark Conference coaching staff of the year.
Anna Heim earned All-America honors for the Greyhound women for the second time in her career with a tie for third place in the pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. Heim cleared 3.82 meters (12 feet, 6 ¼ inches) to earn the All-America honors. Also receiving All-America honors was Mary King in the javelin throw in which she had a toss of 40.78 meters (133 feet, nine inches), which was good enough for eighth-place. Also competing at the NCAA National Championships were Jessica Posimo, who raced in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles. Posimo placed seventh in her heat and 19th overall with a time of 15.03 seconds. Symonne Scott placed fourth in her heat and ninth overall in the long jump with a distance of 5.29 meters (17 feet, 4 1/4 inches). Posimo and Scott teamed up with Rachel Beck and Syndi Wisniewski in the 4x100 meter relay but failed to finish the race due to a missed handoff of the baton.
At the ECAC Outdoor Championships, Heim was the only individual champion for Moravian, winning the pole vault by clearing a height of 3.87 meters (12 feet, 8 1/4 inches). King placed second in the javelin toss with a distance of 41.06 meters (134 feet, eight inches) while Posimo was the runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.85 seconds. Scott got second place in the long jump with a leap of 5.46 meters (17 feet, 11 inches) while she teamed up with Posimo, Beck and Wisniewski to run in the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 47.89 seconds which was good enough for a second-place finish.
Heim earned All-America honors for the Greyhound women for the first time in her career with a fourth-place finish in the pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor & Field National Championships, clearing a season-best 3.76 meters (12 feet, four inches).
The teams are being joined by baseball and football student-athlete Michael Abbate '02; three-sport student-athlete Stephen Brandafi '40; men's track & field national champion Beresford "Ozzie" Brown II '10; women's track & field national champion Anna Heim Hilton '10; softball player Elizabeth Paly '08, women's basketball student-athlete Stephanie Seaman Kennedy '06 and men's track All-American Nathaniel Tussey '08 make up the class of 2021 that will be inducted into the Moravian University Athletic Hall of Fame. Jon Otis '79 will receive the Robert Martin Herbstman Award.
Online registration for the 2021 Moravian University Hall of Fame Ceremony closes on September 26 and is available at https://moravian.prestosports.com/information/HOF/2021/registration.
