BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's track and field 2015-16 indoor season begins this Saturday with high expectations. The team returns 26 student-athletes on the 40-man roster and the first place preseason poll pick have the Greyhounds looking to capture their seventh consecutive Landmark Conference Indoor title.
The team will look to junior Kahron Walker and sophomore Eric Morton to pick up from where they left off last season. Walker was the Landmark Conference Indoor Field Athlete of the Year while he took home the conference title in the high jump and was the runner-up in the long and triple jumps. Morton was the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year last year for his performances in the 4x200 meter relay, 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash.
"In the jumps, Kahron Walker looks incredible already this year," stated Head Coach Jesse Baumannn. "Some of the different tests we have done with his strength this year already are off the charts and he is one of the best conditioned student-athletes on the team. Gavin Bailey is returning for his senior year after a stellar year last year. We are hoping we are able to get him to repeat his performance and make it to the NCAA Division III National Championship. We are really hopeful for our two freshmen Brian Stock and Tyler Crum, who I think show a lot of potential."
Also returning for the Greyhounds are ECAC qualifiers senior Ryan Karnopp in the pole vault, graduate student Parker Munson in shot put, junior Greg Cahill in the weight throw, senior Bailey in the long jump, junior Cory Taggert in the 800 meter run and Walker in the high jump. Karnopp was an All-American in the pole vault at the 2013 Indoor National Championships.
"For the sprints we bring back a lot of leadership, as well as some great competitors in the likes of Gavin, senior Tyler Dwyer and senior Ryan Sickler, who made some great strides in the hurdles last season for us. But we also bring back some younger runners like sophomore Eric Morton and junior Austin Gardener, who won the 200-meter dash in outdoors last year," commented Baumann.
"Losing runners like Alec Duncan and Dillon Farrell is really tough for the distance program but we do have some really good younger talent as well as some exceptionally good middle-distance runners that we look forward to having compete. We are hoping that junior Cory Taggert stays healthy and is able to compete throughout the whole season because he should be able to easily make it to ECACs with the times he has run in the past," finished Baumann.
Moravian will compete in the first of two December meets this Saturday, December 5 when the team heads to the Lehigh University Fast Times Before Finals Invitational in Rauch Fieldhouse.
Click here to watch the preseason highlight video:
