TOWSON, Md. --- Moravian College graduate student Parker Munson has been honored as the Landmark Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Week while teammate junior Austin Gardener has been honored as the Landmark Conference Track Athlete of the Week for their performances at The Penn Relays and Lehigh University Games last week.
Munson, who earned his third Landmark Conference Field Athlete of the Week award this spring, set a new school record at the Lehigh Games as well as recording another top-5 throw. Munson set the Moravian record and placed fourth in the shot put with an ECAC qualifying toss of 15.93 meters (52-3.25), a mark that is 22rd on the Track & Field Results Reporting System list with the top 20 males in each event making the NCAA Championships in late May. Munson was also fourth in the discus with the fourth best throw in school history and an ECAC qualifying toss of 45.55 meters (149-5.5).
Last Friday, Munson had a toss of 14.93 meters (48-11.75) in the College Men's Shot Put at the Penn Relays to place 24th in the field.
"I feel like I've been saying this over and over, but Parker's accomplishments aren't a surprise to us," commented Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "He's as devoted and disciplined as any athlete on our team and the results are showing with another PR and school record for him in the shot put this weekend, and a solid showing in the discus. Coach D'Ottavio, Parker, and I are all confident some 16 meter throws are still in store for him these last few weeks of the season, and hopefully we can see that this weekend."
Gardener grabbed a first place finish in the 200-meter dash and second place finish in the 100-meter dash at the Lehigh Games. He also competed at the Penn Relays setting two school records in the 4x200 meter relay and the sprint medley relay.At the Lehigh Games, Gardener posted a 22.39 second time in the 200-meter dash on his way to winning the event while crossing the line at 11.25 seconds in the 100-meter dash for second place.
Gardener along with teammates John Barr, Tyler Dwyer and Cory Taggert combined to set two new school records at the Penn Relays on Friday afternoon. The first record the squad set was in the 4x200 meter relay crossing the line with a time of 1:31.31. The crew also set the school record in the sprint medley, which consists of two 200-meter dashes, a 400-meter dash and an 800-meter run, finishing with a time of 3:36.76.
"This has been a very gratifying season for Austin," stated Coach Baumann. "It wasn't always easy for him, in fact the start of indoor season didn't go quite as he had hoped, but he has put in a tremendous amount of work, and we're really seeing the benefits of that now. He's contending for wins at virtually every meet we go to, running the best times of his life, and running with a great deal of confidence. Again, it wasn't easy, it didn't just happened. He's put in the work and earned the low 22s and sub 11's he's been running the past few weeks. His best running is still in front of him, too."
Moravian is slated to return to action in the 2016 Landmark Conference Championship Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8 that are being held at Juniata College.
