KING'S POINT, N.Y. --- The Moravian College men's track & field team, the six-time defending Landmark Conference Championships, have a 12point lead after the opening day of competition at the 2014 Landmark Outdoor Championships being hosted by The United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday.
The Greyhounds, who have scored 101 points while Susquehanna University has 89 points, had a pair of individual champions on Saturday. Senior David Cariello won the pole vault at a height of 3.95 meters (12 feet, 11.5 inches) while senior Kristopher Joint won the long jump for the second straight year with an ECAC qualifying mark of 7.05 meters (23 feet, 1.75 inches), just shy of his best mark this season.
On the track, junior Alec Duncan was the runner-up in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:02.48 while freshman Cory Taggert placed fifth in 4:04.79. Junior Dillon Farrell finished seventh in 4:12.99 as the Greyhounds scored 14 points in the race.
Farrell was the runner-up in the 10,000 meters with an ECAC qualifying time of 32:23.62 to earn eight team points.
The Greyhounds had the top three spots in the long jump and six of the top eight to garner 33 points from the event. Sophomore Albert Myers was the runner-up to Joint with a mark of 6.52 meters (21 feet, 4.75 inches) while sophomore Gavin Bailey placed third at 6.47 meters (21 feet, 2.75 inches). Cariello was fifth with a mark of 6.24 meters (20 feet, 5.75 inches) and was followed by freshman Kahron Walker in sixth at 6.22 meters (20 feet, five inches) and junior Chris Ossont in seventh with a leap of 6.06 meters (19 feet, 10.75 inches).
Moravian scored 17 points in the javelin as freshman Michael Guarino was the runner-up with a career-best throw of 53.01 meters (173 feet, 11 inches) on his final throw as he jumped from fifth to second in the standings. Cariello placed fourth with a toss of 48.90 meters (160 feet, five inches) while senior Timothy Lorah finished fifth at 48.78 meters (160 feet) on his first throw of the competition.
Junior Jeffrey Gallagher was the runner-up in the hammer throw with a toss of 40.02 meters (131 feet, three inches) while freshman Greg Cahill took fourth at 39.28 meters (128 feet, 10 inches). Freshman Matt Jones placed fifth at 39.01 meters (128 feet) and classmate Ki-Jana Williams was seventh with a toss of 37.31 meters (122 feet, five inches) to give the Greyhounds 19 points in the event.
Moravian had three qualifiers in Saturday's 100 meter dash preliminaries with freshman Austin Gardener in fourth at 11.12 seconds, Bailey in fifth with a time of 11.18 seconds and freshman Matt Barnett in seventh in 11.31 seconds.
Senior Yacine Zerdoum and sophomore John Barr made the finals in the 400 meter dash with Zerdoum taking second at 51.29 seconds and Barr in seventh in 52.70 seconds.
Gardener had the second fastest qualifying time in the 200 meter dash preliminaries in 22.53 seconds, and he'll be joined in Sunday's final by Zerdoum, who was fourth in 22.89 seconds and Bailey, who was fifth in 22.95 seconds.
The second day of the Landmark Championships will begin on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with the high jump.
