SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's indoor track and field team won the 2016 Landmark Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships today at host Susquehanna University. The men's team ended the day with 158 points, which was 10 better than Susquehanna University.
"We had more PRs than I can count," commented Head Coach Jesse Baumann, who won Coaching Staff of the Year along with his assistants. "We had dramatically improved our qualifiers for the last few weeks of the season. People stepped up in a huge way, freshmen, upperclassmen, people that weren't projected to get big points all did. It truly was a team effort from athletes and coaches and a proud day for our program."
Pacing the men with event victories were seniors Ryan Karnopp in the pole vault, Gavin Bailey in the long jump, juniors Cory Taggert in the 800-meter run, Kahron Walker in the high jump, Greg Cahill in the weight throw, and freshman John Spirk in the 60-meter hurdles. With the wins, all six of the student-athletes are named to the Landmark Conference First Team, while Cahill was named the Field Athlete of the Meet.
In the field events, Karnopp won the pole vault with a height of 4.25m (13-11.25) while freshman Scott Goodwin took fourth with at 3.80m (12-5.5) and freshman Chris Cordi grabbed sixth with a 3.20m (10-6). Walker took the high jump victory with a height of 1.93m (6-4) and also placed fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 12.49m (40-11.7). In the long jump, Bailey won with a leap of 6.90m (22-7.75) while Walker grabbed second place with a jump of 6.66m (21-10.25) and junior Kyle Hagerty took fifth with a 6.47m (21-2.75) mark.
In the weight throw, Cahill was victorious by nearly a meter with a meet record toss of 16.22m (53-2.75) while freshman Denzel Pettway finished third with a mark of 15.17m (49-9.25) and graduate student Parker Munson snuck into fourth with a 14.36m (47-1.5) throw. Then in the shot put, Cahill took second at 15.08m (49-5.75) while Munson finished just behind with a 15.02m (49-3.75) and Pettway put a 14.95m (49-0.75).
On the track, Spirk won the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.61 which put him just in front of teammate senior Ryan Sickler, who ran a 8.84 while freshman Woodrow Battle grabbed sixth in 9.79 seconds. In the 800-meter run, Taggert won the event by three seconds with a time of 1:57.82, and he also took second in the one mile run with a 4:30.84. In the 60-meter dash, junior Austin Gardener placed fourth with a sprint time of 7.17 while sophomore Eric Morton took sixth with a 7.35. Then in the 400-meter dash, Bailey took a fifth place finish running a 51.72 which put him just in front of teammate senior Tyler Dwyer, who ran a 51.75. In the 200-meter dash, Gardener was able to sneak into second place with a time of 22.68 second while John Barr took home sixth with a 23.38.
In the 4,000-meter distance medley the team of sophomore Andrew Mitchell and freshmen Na'im Pretlow, Peter Milewski and Aaron Hofmann took sixth place with a time of 11:50.54. In the 4x200 meter relay the Hounds finished second with the team of Gardener, Dwyer, Barr and freshman Chris Antoine running a 1:33.23. Rounding out the day for the men was Bailey, Dwyer, Taggert, and sophomore Esco Blaylock, who took a second place finish in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:28.83 which is the fourth fastest time in school history.
The Greyhounds will compete at the ECAC Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday March 4 and 5 at Ocean Breeze Complex in Staten Island, N.Y.
