Top 10 Stories of 2013-14 - #4 Joint & O'Rourke Named Outstanding Senior Athletes

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. 4 story – Kristopher Joint and Katie O'Rourke being named the Greyhounds 2013-14 Outstanding Senior Athletes.

Every spring, Moravian holds its Annual Senior Athletic Banquet to honor the graduating class. On Wednesday, May 7, the Class of 2014 and their families were in Johnston Hall for this year's banquet. The evening began with the presentation of the H.T.D. Gillespie Award to Tom Keim '49. After dinner, each of Moravian's coaches took to the stage to talk about their seniors and what they had accomplished during their careers.

Once the coaches are finished, it is time to present the major awards to the senior class. Women's basketball standout Laura Jordan and football offensive lineman Julian DiGiacomo were presented with the Blue & Grey Senior Scholar-Athlete Awards for their outstanding careers in the classroom in addition to the playing arena. The evening finished with Director of Athletics Scot Dapp presenting the Senior Athlete Awards to Joint and O'Rourke.

"I remember that day very clearly; it was the most nerve racking day ever," Joint said recalling the banquet. "I had never been that nervous before but they were good nerves. I can remember Scot Dapp up on stage start to go through my achievements and everyone at the banquet start to acknowledge me and look my way. It was a feeling that I hadn't ever felt."

Joint, who had not completed his senior campaign yet with trips to the ECAC Championships and the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships still on the schedule at the time of the presentation, completed his career as a four-time All-American at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships, three of them indoors. He was the runner-up in the triple jump this past March, and Joint has placed sixth in the nation the last two seasons in the long jump indoors. At the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Joint finished third in late May for his final All-American honor.

Before the indoor championships in early March, Joint was selected as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Mideast Region Field Athlete of the Year after he had won the triple jump and long jump and placed second in the high jump at the Landmark Conference Indoor Championships while earning Landmark Indoor Field Athlete of the Year accolades for the second straight season as Moravian won its fifth straight Landmark indoor title.

Joint garnered the Field Athlete of the Year honor at the Landmark Outdoor Championships in May as he both the long and triple jumps again and was third in the high jump. During his career, Joint won 10 Landmark individual titles including the triple jump all four years indoors, and he has been on the All-Conference teams 17 times including 10 on the First Team. He went on to win the ECAC Outdoor title in the triple jump the week before the NCAA Championships.

"It's funny when I think about that award because I can remember talking about it to some great senior athletes such as Jeff Algor and Alyssa Hann on campus over and over," Joint commented. "Picturing how that day would be and the different scenarios of that day. That award is why I went about my senior year the way I did. I wanted to accomplish so much to where I knew it was mine. The season wasn't great but I worked hard for what I gained. I never thought about this award until Travis King (the 2013 Moravian Senior Athlete Award winner) had it my junior year and as my roommate it became competitive and a goal of mine for my senior year."

Joint leaves his name throughout the Moravian record books. Indoors, he has the top 12 distances in the triple jump in school history with a record leap of 15.09 meters (49 feet, 6.25 inches), and has three marks in the top 10 in the long jump. Outdoors, Joint owns eight of the top 10 triple jumps in Moravian history with a school record of 15.10 meters (49 feet, 6.5 inches), and he is also second in the record book in the long jump with a career best of 7.46 meters (24 feet, 5.75 inches).

"First of all, I would have to thank Moravian for accepting me for who I am and making me feel comfortable," stated Joint when asked what he will remember most about his four years. "Moravian has allowed me to become the athlete you see today with all these different awards. I will cherish every moment, from the friends I shared endless laughs with, the facilities that I got to use whenever, the wonderful supporting cast we have with parents, current student, alumni and staff, my coaches and teammates that I gave so much headaches to only because I loved them deep down and wanted to see them succeed as well. I will remember it all, now it's time for me to start a new chapter in my life and excel at other things."

O'Rourke helped lead Moravian to the 2014 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament as an at-large selection as the Greyhounds finished the season with a 20-8 overall record. O'Rourke averaged 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest to go with 103 assists versus 91 turnovers in a team-leading 814 minutes of action.

She was selected as a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division III Honorable Mention All-America and Women's DIII News Honorable Mention All-America, and O'Rourke also garnered places on the D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Third Team and the Landmark All-Conference First Team, earning the honor for a second straight year. O'Rourke was also honored as the Lehigh Valley Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Outstanding Field Athlete in women's basketball and was also Moravian's LVAIAW Outstanding Athlete for the school.

For her work off the court, O'Rourke was honored as the Landmark Conference Senior Scholar-Athlete for Women's Basketball while earning a spot on the Landmark Winter Academic Honor Roll for the third straight year.

O'Rourke completed her career as the first player in school history to hit 1,000 point, 500 rebound, 300 assist, and 200 steal milestones. She had 1,019 points (23rd in the Moravian record book), 561 rebounds (14th all-time), 355 assists (third in school history) and 202 steals (seventh). She played in 109 career games, starting 100, and was on the court for 3,074 minutes in her career.

"Our senior class contributed so much to the athletic legacy at Moravian," O'Rourke explained. "There were a lot of other athletes, including my own teammates, who could have easily won the award. When I realized that they were reading my accomplishments in the award description, I was excited but also a bit nervous to address the audience. I was hoping that my nerves wouldn't stop me from putting in to words how grateful I was for my time spent at Moravian.

"As I said that night, I really couldn't have anticipated how wonderful my student-athlete experience would be when I arrived as a freshman. I attribute it all to the constant support of my teammates, coaches, and the entire athletic department. I couldn't have been surrounded by better people and I definitely couldn't have made a better choice than Moravian," she finished.

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 – Kristopher Joint & Katie O'Rourke Named Senior Athletes of the Year
#3 – TBA
#2 – TBA
#1 – TBA