HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- The Moravian College men's outdoor track & field team won its second straight and eighth overall Landmark title at the 2016 Landmark Conference Championships hosted by Juniata College this weekend.
In addition to sweeping the team titles, Head Coach Jesse Baumann and his staff of assistants Jonathan D'Ottavio (throws), Mike Lawyrk (pole vault), Bob Luciano (javelin), Steve Rahn (sprints/hurdles), Gary Zack (javelin), Michael El Kazzaz (pole vault), Racquel Farquharson (jumps), Tim Lorah (throws) and Robert Shaffer (sprints) were named both the men's and women's Coaching Staff of the Year.
The Moravian men have won 11 conference titles in program history including eight Landmark crowns. The Hounds had 250 points to win the 2016 championship while runner-up Susquehanna University netted 185 points.
"The men had a closer meet than the score shows," explained Baumann. "Both Elizabethtown and Susquehanna had really good meets and were chipping away at points we had anticipated getting. Around the middle of day two, things started to turn around, most notably with junior Kahron Walker's jump in the triple jump. He's had some knee issues all year, so we weren't sure what to expect, but it ended up being a real turning point for us as he had another huge weekend for our team. After that point we had huge performances in the 100m, shot put, hurdles, and 800 just to name a few. Guys stepped up when we needed them to, and it turned out to be a great meet for us."
The Greyhounds had four individual champions on Sunday with graduate student Parker Munson winning the shot put with an ECAC qualifying toss of 15.30 meters (50-2.5) while being named the Landmark Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Year. Walker captured the high jump with a leap of 1.93 meters (6-4), and he was second in the triple jump at 13.17 meters (43-2.5) while freshman John Spirk was honored as the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year after winning the 110-meter high hurdles in an ECAC qualifying time of 15.54 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles in 57.29 seconds.
Junior Austin Gardener had a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100-meter dash in an ECAC qualifying time of 10.83 seconds and the 200-meter dash in an ECAC time of 22.11 seconds. Sophomore Eric Morton was third in the 100-meter dash with an ECAC qualifying time of 11.05 seconds while freshman Chris Antoine was sixth in 11.33 seconds. Senior Tyler Dwyer was fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.80 seconds while senior John Barr was seventh in 33.54 seconds. Dwyer would also place fourth in the 400-meter dash in 50.60 seconds while sophomore Esco Blaylock finished sixth in 51.79 seconds.
Junior Cory Taggert placed third in the 800-meter run with an ECAC qualifying time of 1:54.80 while sophomore Andrew Mitchell was fifth in 1:57.60 and sophomore Mike Kopach was sixth in 1:58.24.
Senior Ryan Sickler finished as the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.89 seconds, and he was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in 59.60 seconds. Freshman Woodrow Battle was seventh in the 110 hurdles at 17.18 seconds, and he placed fifth in the 400 hurdles in 1:01.73. Senior Gavin Bailey was the runner-up in the 400 hurdles in 57.97 seconds.
Morton, Antoine and Gardener combined with junior Jamil Poole to finish second in the 4x100-meter relay in an ECAC qualifying time of 43.04 seconds while the group of Blaylock, Spirk, Mitchell and Dwyer took second in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:25.43.
Freshman Denzel Pettway placed third in the shot put with an ECAC qualifying toss of 15.06 meters (49-5) while freshman Tyler Bergsma was fourth at 13.54 meters (44-5.25) and junior Greg Cahill finished fifth at 13.46 meters (44-2). In the javelin, junior Michael Guarino placed third at 50.28 meters (164-11), and he was followed by sophomore Robert Condo in fourth with a toss of 49.56 meters (162-7) and sophomore Kyle Allison in fifth at 48.20 meters (158-2).
Moravian is slated to compete next at the 2016 ECAC Division III Outdoor Championships at Westfield State College in Massachusetts on Wednesday and Thursday, May 18-19.
