INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Senior Kristopher Joint and sophomore Ryan Karnopp of the Moravian College men's indoor track & field teams have qualified to compete in the 2014 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships being hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University on Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15.
Joint is making his second trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships after earning All-America honors last winter for a sixth place finish in the long jump and placing 10th in the triple jump. Joint will be competing in the pair of events for the second consecutive year. Joint is ranked 10th in the long jump with a season best leap of 7.17 meters (23 feet, 6 ¼ inches), and he will compete in the event on Friday at 11:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. Joint is second in the nation in the triple jump entering the championships with a school, Landmark Conference and ECAC Division III meet record distance of 15.09 meters (49 feet, 6 ¼ inches) that he jumped last Friday. The triple jump is scheduled for Saturday beginning at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
"Kris has had a tremendous season, and as I've said many times, the key is his consistency all season long," stated Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "He jumped the exact same mark (48' 7.5") at three separate meets and showed he's peaking at the right time by setting a new personal and school record of 49' 6.25" this past weekend. Some of the other jumpers, including the top seed right now have had some great jumps, they just haven't done it as consistently as Kris has, which gives us a lot of reasons to expect him to do well this weekend.
"His long jump has been steadily improving as well, and we think he'll be able to pull out a good mark Friday morning," continued Baumann. "He's always been able to rise to the occasion at big meets, so we think he'll be ready to contend for a podium spot in the long jump as well."
Karnopp is making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships for the Greyhounds. He posted a career high indoor mark of 4.88 meters (16 feet) in the pole vault to enter the national meet in a tie for seventh place on the performance list. Karnopp will also compete on Friday as the pole vault begins at 11:00 a.m. as well.
"Ryan has exceeded our expectations this year," Baumann said." We were hoping he could be somewhere in the mid 15-foot range during the indoor season, and that has now become a fairly manageable height for him. He's had some good attempts, both in practice and in meets, above the 16-foot bar, so we know he's capable of a lot more. As long as he keeps doing what he's been doing since our meet at the Armory in mid-February, he has a very good shot at contending for a top 8 spot on Friday morning."
The NCAA changed qualifying back in 2012. Instead of automatic and provisional marks as had been used in the past, starting two years ago, the top 15 men's times/distances and the top 17 women's times/distances in individual events and the top 12 relay times for both genders on the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) list will compete at the NCAA meet. Those numbers were increased this year from 13 male, 15 female and 10 relay teams the last two winters
Competition at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on the University of Nebraska campus begins at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time 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://results.deltatiming.com/tf/2014-ncaa-d3-indoor-championships. The NCAA will also be streaming the meet at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2014/03/14.
