BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's track and field team heads to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania for the 2015 Landmark Conference Indoor Championships on Saturday, February 28 in hopes of it's fifth consecutive title at host Susquehanna University.
"A shortened season has added a lot of challenges with only having about six weeks to prepare for the Championship meet," commented fourth-year Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "We're starting to see people break out, now, though. Most notably Kahron Walker and Ryan Karnopp. Kahron nearly cleared 6'9" this weekend and has been doing well in the horizontal jumps, and then Ryan finally had a breakout that we were anticipating this past weekend at Kutztown."
Walker and Karnopp have both been posting ECAC marks all winter along with earning conference and ECAC weekly honors. Karnopp posted a personal best last weekend which set both the Moravian and Landmark record. Joining them as an Athlete of the Week is senior thrower Parker Munson, who has been a permanent fixture for the throwers and pushes his teammates to their potential.
"Our throwers have become a strength for our team, and we expect Parker, Jeffrey Gallagher, and Jack Lippin to help lead the way for a deep group this weekend. Our sprinters and distance crew have started to step it up the past few weeks with us getting a few ECAC qualifiers with Matt Barnett, Cory Taggert, and Alec Duncan, plus we have some others who I think are ready to step up beyond what they've shown on the track heretofore," commented Baumann.
Taggert also earned Athlete of the Week through the conference and looks to set the pace for the Hounds this Saturday. With the team focusing on one goal this weekend, everyone is setting the bar high at practice using each workout to their full advantage to keep them one step ahead of the competition.
"Workouts have been looking strong so now it's just a matter of stepping up the next few weeks of the season. We know it'll be a close meet this weekend so we're just stressing to both teams to do the little things to prepare and give themselves the best chance to excel this weekend," stated Baumann.
Barnett, Taggert, Duncan, Dillon Farrell, last year's Landmark Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, Walker, Karnopp, Gavin Bailey and Munson have all hit ECAC marks this winter season.
The team has high hopes of stepping up and earning ECAC bids after placing their best marks to date on Saturday at Championships.