TROY, N.Y. --- Moravian College senior Kristopher Joint won the triple jump and sophomore Ryan Karnopp took first in the pole vault on the opening day of the 2014 ECAC Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships being hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Greyhounds are third of 33 schools after the first day of competition.
The Hounds picked up 22 points Thursday while Bates (Maine) College and host RPI are tied for first with 24 points after the first day of action.
Joint captured first with a leap of 15.04 meters (49 feet, 4.25 inches) on his final jump of the afternoon. The mark would be second in the nation but Joint has a season-best of 15.10 meters, the top mark in the nation on the Track & Field Results Reporting System list. In Thursday's competition, Joint fouled on his first two attempts before a mark of 14.27 meters put him into the finals in seventh of nine competitors. He fouled on his first jump of the finals and then had a mark of 13.06 meters before his winning jump in the final round. Joint earned the Greyhounds 10 team points with the victory.
Karnopp was one of three pole vaulters to clear 4.86 meters (15 feet, 11.25 inches) but was the only one to do it on his first attempt to win the title. The height was a season-best for Karnopp and moves him into a tie for 14th on the TFRRS list. The top 20 males in each event will compete in next week's NCAA Division III National Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University beginning on May 22. Karnopp waited to enter Thursday's competition at 4.71 meters, clearing it on his first attempt.
Junior Alec Duncan picked up Moravian's other two points on Thursday with a seventh place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 9:37.20.
Junior Chris Ossont also competed in the triple jump and finished in a tie for 21st at 13.51 meters (44 feet, four inches).
Senior David Cariello participated in the first day of the decathlon Thursday, and he is in fourth place after the first five events with 3,391 points. The point total is Cariello's highest of the year. He opened the event with a time of 11.36 seconds in the 100 meter dash for 782 points, and then Cariello had a career-best leap of 6.91 meters (22 feet, eight inches) in the long jump worth 792 points. He recorded a distance of 10.88 meters in the shot put for 539 points, and he followed it with a high jump of 1.77 meters (five feet, 9.75 inches) for 602 points. Cariello finished the first day with a time of 53.13 seconds in the 400 meter dash for 676 points.
Moravian will close out the 2014 ECAC Outdoor Championships on Friday, May 16 with Cariello opening the action at 10:00 a.m. as he attempts to get into the top 20 on the TFRRS list in the decathlon.