BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Freshman Dillon Farrell and senior Timothy Layng won events on the opening day and helped the Moravian College men's outdoor track & field team to first place after one day of competition at the 2012 Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships being hosted at Timothy Breidegam Track & Rocco Calvo Field Saturday.
Moravian is first of the six teams with a team total of 77 points after six scored events on the opening day of competition. Susquehanna University is second at 60 points while Juniata College in third with 41 points and the United States Merchant Marine Academy is fourth with 30 points.
Farrell opened the meet by winning the 10,000-meter run Saturday morning in a meet record time of 31:46.52. The Greyhounds earned a total of 17 points in the event as senior Matthew Lutcza took third in 32:14.43 and freshman Alec Duncan placed eighth in a time of 34:07.60.
Layng captured the pole vault title for the third time in four years, clearing a height of 4.80 meters (15 feet, nine inches), a new conference championship meet record. Moravian earned a total of 20 points in the pole vault as senior Nicco Dalpiaz was second at 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5 1/4 inches) and senior Kyle D'Angelo finished seventh at 3.35 meters (ten feet, 11 3/4 inches).
Moravian would gather another 18 points in the long jump with sophomore Kristopher Joint finishing second at 6.77 meters (22 feet, 2 1/2 inches). Dalpiaz was fourth at 6.52 meters (21 feet, 4 3/4 inches) while junior Jonathan Heberling placed fifth with a distance of 6.51 meters (21 feet, 4 1/4 inches). Senior Jordan Barton added a point with an eighth place finish at 6.31 meters (20 feet, 8 1/2 inches) while junior Travis King was tenth at 6.21 meters (20 feet, 4 1/2 inches).
The Greyhounds picked up nine points in the 1,500-meter run with Farrell placed fourth in 4:02.21 and Lutcza finishing fifth at 4:02.43.
Moravian would get eight points in the shot put with sophomore Frank Yannotta placing fourth with a toss of 12.71 meters (41 feet, 8 1/2 inches) and freshman Kyle Kersting taking sixth at 12.47 meters (40 feet, 11 inches). Yannotta was also sixth in the discus with a toss of 38.49 meters (126 feet, three inches) while freshman Jeffrey Gallagher took seventh at 38.33 meters (125 feet, nine inches) to help the Greyhounds earn five points in the event.
In preliminary action on Saturday, Dalpaiz, D'Angelo and freshman Travis Dorsa all advanced to the finals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes with Dorsa also making the finals of the 400-meter dash as all of Moravian's preliminary runners made the finals.
The second day of the 2012 Landmark Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Moravian at Timothy Breidegam Track and Rocco Calvo Field will begin at 9:00 a.m. Sunday and conclude with the awards ceremony around 4:00 p.m.
