Joint, Leonard & Vanek Headed to NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Juniors Kristopher Joint (Bethlehem, Pa./Parkland HS) and Allison Vanek (Riegelsville, Pa./Wilson HS) and senior Micah Leonard (York, Pa./William Penn HS) of the Moravian College indoor track & field teams have qualified to compete in the 2013 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships being hosted by North Central (Ill.) College on Friday, March 8th and Saturday, March 9th.

The NCAA changed qualifying back in 2012.  Instead of automatic and provisional marks as had been used in the past, starting last winter, the top 13 men's times/distances and the top 15 women's times/distances in individual events and the top ten relay times for both genders on the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) list will compete at the NCAA meet.

Joint, who is making his first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships, will compete in a pair of events. Joint is ranked ninth in the long jump with a season best leap of 7.20 meters (23 feet, 7 ½ inches), and he will compete in the event on Friday at 4:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. Joint is sixth in the nation in the triple jump entering the championships with a school and Landmark Conference record distance of 14.91 meters (48 feet, 11 inches). The triple jump is scheduled for Saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. CST. 

Vanek is also making her first appearance at the NCAA Championships for the Greyhounds. She posted a career high indoor mark of 3.81 meters (12 feet, six inches) in the pole vault on Saturday to enter the national meet in sixth place on the performance list. Vanek will be the first of Moravian's three competitors to compete as the pole vault begins at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. The Greyhounds have had two of the last three NCAA Division III Indoor champions in the pole vault with Anna Heim winning the title in 2010 and Abigail Schaffer winning it in 2011 with both Greyhounds setting the meet record.

Leonard is making her third trip to the NCAA Indoor meet and her sixth appearance in the NCAA track & field championships for her career. Leonard is a four-time All-American including three honors indoors having placed fifth in the long jump as a freshman in 2010, and finishing seventh in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump in 2011. She missed the 2012 meet due to injuries.  Leonard will compete in the triple jump this year and enters the meet with the seventh-best distance of 11.95 meters (39 feet, 2 ½ inches), which is the Moravian and Landmark Conference record. Leonard is scheduled to compete on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CST.

Competition at the Al B. Carius Track on the North Central campus begins at 10:00 a.m. on Friday and 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. You can stay up-to-date on the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships at http://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/2012/4/26/MTRACK_0426121702.aspx. The NCAA will also be streaming the meet at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2013/03/08.