Five Greyhounds Place 1st at Kutztown Invitational
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior David Cariello, junior Chris Ossont, sophomore Albert Myers, sophomore Ryan Karnopp and freshman Austin Gardener all picked up first place finishes for the Moravian College men’s indoor track & field team at the Kutztown University Marron and Gold Invitational on Saturday.
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior David Cariello, junior Chris Ossont, sophomore Albert Myers, sophomore Ryan Karnopp and freshman Austin Gardener all picked up first place finishes for the Moravian College men's indoor track & field team at the Kutztown University Last Chance Invitational on Saturday.
Karnopp won the pole vault competition for the fourth straight meet by clearing a personal-record mark of 4.88 meters (16'). The jump now ranks the sophomore seventh in NCAA Division III, according to the Track & Field Results and Reporting System. This season, the NCAA will invite the top 15 on the TFRRS list for the men in each event to the Indoor National Championships on March 14-15 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Karnopp becomes just the second student-athlete in Moravian history to clear 16 feet, joining Timothy Layng '12 with the sixth-best height in the record books.
Myers pulled double-duty on Saturday, earning podium finishes on the track and in the field. The sophomore qualified for the finals in the 55-meter dash after a 6.74 second qualifier, and followed that up by shaving off a couple hundredths in the finals. His finals time of 6.70 seconds placed second at Kutztown.
The sophomore won the long jump on Saturday by the slimmest of margins, out jumping the second-place finisher by one-hundredth of a meter. Myers' leaped an ECAC-qualifying mark of 6.75 meters (22' 1.75") to finish first out of 20 competitors.
Moravian long jumpers occupied four of the top eight spots at Kutztown. Freshman Kyle Hagerty finished third with a mark of 6.50 meters (21' 4"), while Ossont placed fifth (6.36 meters – 20' 10.5"). Sophomore Gavin Bailey finished eighth after a leap of 6.25 meters (20' 6.25").
Freshman Matt Barnett finished a hair-length behind teammate Myers in the 55-meter dash finals. The Greyhound rookie placed third with a time of 6.71 seconds, just one-hundredth of a second behind Myers. He stopped the clock at 6.78 seconds in the qualifiers to advance.
Ossont won the triple jump event at Kutztown and booked a trip to the ECAC Indoor Championships, besting four other opponents with a personal-record jump of 13.90 meters (45' 7.25").
Cariello posted the fastest time in the 55-meter hurdles preliminaries at 7.91 seconds, and followed that up with the first-place time of 7.84 seconds.
The dynamic senior also finished sixth in the pole vault by clearing the 4.10 meter (13' 5.25") mark.
Gardener's first-place finish in the 200-meter dash bested 23 competitors at Kutztown. His time of 23.10 seconds was a career-best for the Moravian rookie.
The Moravian distance crew scored a pair of third place finishes at Kutztown. Junior Alec Duncan finished the one-mile run in 4:29.31, while classmate Dillon Farrell stopped the clock at 9:15.70 in the 3,000-meter run. Freshman Cory Taggert finished in the top half of the field with a 10th place finish in the one-mile (4:36.64).
Taggert also placed seventh in his first attempt at the 400-meter dash event, and came close to qualifying for the ECAC Championships. The rookie runner finished in 52.81 seconds.
Freshman Kahron Walker finished in sixth place in the high jump with a leap of 1.90 meters (6' 2.75").
The men's weight throwers occupied the fifth through 13 positions on Saturday. Freshman Matt Jones paced the group with a personal-record toss of 14.50 meters (47' 7"). Senior Timothy Lorah also recorded a personal best, finishing sixth after a mark of 14.32 meters (46' 11.75"). Junior Jeffrey Gallagher, freshman Greg Cahill and junior Parker Munson were seventh through ninth, all with personal-record tosses in the weight throw. Senior Kyle Kersting rounded out the top 10 with a throw of 11.04 meters (36' 2.75").
The throwers also placed four Greyhounds in the top 10 in the shot put on Saturday. Senior Frank Yannotta was fourth (13.09 meters), freshman Ljuboslav Boskic was fifth with a personal record toss of 13.02 meters (42' 8.75") and sophomore Jacob Fritz was sixth (12.52 meters). Sophomore Matt Dill was ninth (11.31 meters).
The Moravian men will send two student-athletes to the Princeton University Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 23 before gearing up for the Landmark Conference Indoor Championships, set for Saturday, March 1 at Susquehanna University.
