TOWSON, Md. --- Moravian College freshman sprinter Zion Howard and junior pole vaulter Scott Goodwin have been named as the Landmark Conference Men's Track & Field Athletes of the Week for the second consecutive week for their performances last week.
Howard, who earned his third Landmark Conference honor of the season, scored 18 points individually and three as part of a relay as he helped the Greyhounds to a one-point win over host New York University at the NYU DIII Invitational competed at the NYC Armory Friday. The Greyhounds finished with 62 points while NYU had 61. Howard started the day by winning his heat of the 60-meter dash in a time of 6.97 seconds, and he then finished second in the finals in a time of 6.96 seconds to earn eight points. Howard's time is the fifth fastest in school history and is currently tied for 17th on the TFRRS list and the top 18 student-athletes will head to the NCAA Division III Championships in March. Howard finished the day individually by winning the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.33 seconds, earning another 10 points for Moravian. Howard also ran a leg of Moravian's 4x400-meter relay team that ran a time of 3:26.62, the second fastest time in school history, as the quartet placed sixth.
"I mentioned last week that Zion is a great competitor," said Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "He works exceptionally hard in practice and does all the little things right as well, but what has made him standout this year is that he's able to rise up to the moment. In the finals of the 60m, he was one of the last ones out of the blocks but he stepped up his performance with a time that puts him on the cusp of NCAAs right now. He was neck-and-neck coming off the final turn in the 200 but found another gear coming down the last turn to win the 200m. Then after a busy day he had a great 4x4 split of 51.5 to help our relay to one of the best times we've had in a while."
Goodwin won a jump-off to capture the first place individual points in the pole vault at the NYU DIII Invitational. Goodwin was tied for the second best height of the day at 4.26 meters but with the top individual an unattached athlete, there was a jump off to determine the winner to receive the 10 points to the team score and Goodwin made his attempt at 4.41 meters (14-5.5) after missing three times at the height during the competition.
"Scott is starting to improve a lot," noted Baumann. "He's been doing well in practice getting some good looks at bungees in the 16' range and he cleared 14' at ESU on a tough surface where you're not allowed to where spikes so we knew things would start to improve. The Armory has a great runway and he took advantage to clear 4.41m. We're going to Kutztown which we've had some good luck at over the years. It's where Ryan Karnopp set our school record a few years back, so we're optimistic that Scott can continue this trajectory."
Moravian is slated to compete at the Kutztown University 6-Team Qualifier on Friday, February 16 beginning at 4:30 p.m.
