NEW ORLEANS, La. --- The Moravian College men's and women's track & field teams had six student-athletes named as United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region honorees this week.
The USTFCCCA is in its third year named All-Region selections for indoor and outdoor track & field at the NCAA Division III level after having All-Region honors in cross country for a number of years. For a student-athlete to earn All-Region honors, an athlete must be ranked in the top-5 of an individual event in the region according to the final Track & Field Results Reporting System data or be part of a top-3 relay team. Moravian is part of the Mideast Region.
The Greyhound men had three honorees with junior Scott Goodwin in the pole vault, freshman Zion Howard in the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes and junior John Spirk in 60-meter hurdles. Goodwin had a season-best height of 4.41 meters (14-5.5) in the pole vault while Spirk's fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles was a career-best 8.26 seconds this winter. Howard had times of 6.96 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 22.33 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
"The All-Region selection is objective so there weren't many surprises who we had selected, they're the same people who have been running fast, or jumping well all season long," stated Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "Zion and John were 0.03 and 0.07 seconds from making NCAAs, respectively, so it's no surprise they were ranked well in our region. Scott also had a very consistent season and had it not been for the unfortunate timing of the most recent winter storm, I'm confident they all could have had a great chance to qualify for the NCAAs this past weekend. All three were clearly peaking at the end of the season so I expect a great outdoor season and for them to be on a plane to UW-LaCrosse for NCAAs in May."
The Moravian women's team also had three student-athletes named to All-Region with seniors Melissa Cheong and Casie Cronk in the high jump and sophomore Carly Danoski in the 800-meter run. Cheong and Cronk both had a season-best height of 1.61 meters (5-3.25) while Danoski had the second fastest time in school history at 2:16.18.
"Some of our most consistent women were yet again our highest ranked in the region," Baumann said. "I'm happy for Mel who had her season end on such an unfortunate note at Kutztown. She was having one of her better days of jumping in a long time which this recognition is a reflection of. The All-Region honor obviously isn't close to the same as what we feel she could have achieved this season, but it's at least some consolation that shows the caliber of athlete she has been for our program these past four years. Casie and Carly were also having great seasons and our staff feels they both would have had a great shot at NCAAs if not for having to miss the last chance meet with the storm. They're ready to go outdoors though, and as with our men that were honored, I think both have an extremely good shot of qualifying for NCAAs in Wisconsin in a couple of months."
To view the entire USTFCCCA All-Region honoree list, visit http://www.ustfccca.org/2018/03/featured/2018-ncaa-diii-indoor-track-field-all-region-honorees.