BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Seniors Cadee Rockwell and Abby Schaffer of the Moravian College women's outdoor track & field team won events and helped Moravian to the team lead after the first day of competition at the 2012 Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships at Timothy Breidegam Track & Rocco Calvo Field Saturday.
Moravian is first of five teams that scored on the opening day of the meet with 79 points. The Catholic University of America is second with 54 points while Susquehanna University is third with 46 and Juniata College sits in fourth place with 37 points.
Rockwell helped Moravian earn 13 points in the 1,500-meter run with a winning time of 4:48.68 as she defended her conference title in the event. Senior Kristina Ruggiero placed sixth in the race with a time of 4:56.17.
Schaffer won her second straight pole vault championship and led Moravian to 30 points in the event as the Greyhounds took the top four spots. Schaffer cleared a Landmark Conference championship meet record height of 4.09 meters (13 feet, five inches) while sophomore Allison Vanek took second at 3.79 meters (12 feet, 5 1/4 inches). Freshman Hailey Kester was third in the pole vault for Moravian at 3.49 meters (11 feet, 5 1/4 inches) while sophomore Amanda Smilgis finished fourth at 2.74 meters (eight feet, 11 3/4 inches).
The Greyhounds would earn 16 points in the long jump with junior Micah Leonard finishing as the runner-up at 5.61 meters (18 feet, five inches). Freshman Brielle Sutter took fourth at 5.07 meters (16 feet, 7 3/4 inches) while Vanek finished sixth with a leap of 4.95 meters (16 feet, three inches). Kester was ninth in the event at 4.66 meters (15 feet, 3 1/2 inches) while freshman Giana Vecchio took tenth at 4.55 meters (14 feet, 11 1/4 inches).
Moravian added another 12 team points in the opening event of the competition, the 10,000-meter run with freshman Claire DelCasale finishing fourth at 41:03.86, senior Megan Hallowell taking fifth in a time of 41:20.80, and sophomore Emma Pacheco placing sixth in 41:38.81. Freshman Jessie Goldberg also ran in the race and was tenth in a time of 43:43.74.
Freshman Jenny Kratch earned the Greyhounds ten points in the throwing events Saturday as she placed third in the discus with a toss of 32.92 meters (108 feet) and fifth in the shot put at 10.60 meters (34 feet, 9 1/2 inches). Freshman Allissa Hoffman was ninth in the shot put at 9.81 meters (32 feet, 2 1/4 inches).
Moravian also did well in the preliminary events on Saturday with every Greyhound runner making the finals on Sunday. In the 400-meter dash, Sutter was just one-hundredth of a second off of the meet record with a top qualifying time of 58.41 seconds, and she will be joined in the finals by senior Lisa Williamson and freshman Brianna Wright. The trio along with freshman Morgan Redmond made the finals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Redmond and sophomore Jacqueline Olmstead also reached the finals in the 100-meter hurdles.
The second day of the 2012 Landmark Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Moravian at Timothy Breidegam Track and Rocco Calvo Field will begin at 9:00 a.m. Sunday and conclude with the awards ceremony around 4:00 p.m.
