Top 10 Stories of 2013-14 - #5 Men's Indoor Track & Field Wins 5th Straight Landmark Title
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at the 2013-14 athletic campaign with Top 10 Stories from the past year including the No. 5 story – the men’s indoor track & field team capturing its fifth straight Landmark Conference Championship.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at the 2013-14 athletic campaign with Top 10 Stories from the past year including the No. 5 story – the men's indoor track & field team capturing its fifth straight Landmark Conference Championship.
The Greyhounds title was their sixth overall since the Landmark began competition in 2007-08 and the program's ninth indoor conference championship. Moravian defeated host Susquehanna University by 18 points, 213-195 for this year's trophy.
The Greyhounds also 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.
"Going into the meet, we felt that we were pretty deep across all events and would have a pretty good chance of doing well as a team," stated Baumann. "However, there was about an hour-long stretch in the middle of the meet that felt like Murphy's Law. We dropped a baton in the relay and didn't finish, and had some other unanticipated outcomes in some events that we anticipated getting some big points in. Fortunately we still had a few events that we were still strong in (hammer throw, 5K, and triple jump) in the last third of the meet and thanks to strong performances in those events it helped to solidify the win for us. It wound up being a very gratifying team win because it took so many of the athletes digging deep at key moments for us to be able to win."
Moravian ruled the jumping events with 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 captured 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 in the nation and would earn him a trip to the NCAA Championships in the event. Sophomore Albert Myers finished second with a 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 at 14.37 meters (47 feet, 1 ¾ inches) while 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 Landmark Indoor Field Athlete of the Year for a second straight year was a blessing," commented Joint. "I know how much I had worked and knew this was something that I had to earn if I wanted to be known as one of the better jumpers around the nation. It helps that we had great jumpers around such as Micah Leonard and Travis King to push me to want and excel further beyond what I was capable of."
The Greyhounds had the top four distances in the men's 35-pound weight throw with junior Jeffrey Gallagher winning 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 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 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 in 1:57.64.
Myers led the Hounds' five finalists in the 60-meter dash finals with a time of 7.11 seconds. 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 to place fourth while senior David Cariello took fifth.
"Winning and getting better is a big reason for why I did athletics," said Joint. "I have a winning mentality and for my team to have had that meant a lot to me. Coming to Moravian, I knew we had a winning program and wanted to be a part of this. With the team achievements, that has to go to those ahead of us that installed that winning tradition here in people like me and with the class that they won with over time. It's great to see the smile on everyone's faces when you win a team championship because we put so much into this year in and out. So it means more to be a team champion to me than all the individual honors. It is an honor to have shared those good times with such great friends. There's no better feeling like it."
Top 10 Stories of 2013-14
#10 – Women's Basketball Leads DIII in Blocked Shots
#9 – Seven Hounds Earn All-America Honors
#8 – Negron Becomes 3rd Hound to Rush for 1,000 Yards in a Season
#7 – Moravian Captures Matte Award for First Time Since 2002-03
#6 – O'Rourke First Hound to Four Milestones
#5 – Men's Indoor Track & Field Wins 5th Straight Landmark Conference Title
#4 – TBA
#3 – TBA
#2 – TBA
#1 – TBA
