KING'S POINT, N.Y. --- The six-time defending champion Moravian College women's track & field team sits in first place with a 53-point lead after the opening day of competition at the 2014 Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships being hosted by The United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday.
The Greyhounds, who have 103 points to 50 for second place Susquehanna University, had three individual champions on the first day of the meet. Junior Hailey Kester defended her title in the pole vault, clearing 3.20 meters (10 feet, six inches) while sophomore Christelle Reglas won the long jump with a leap of 5.05 meters (16 feet, seven inches). Junior Claire Del Casale won the 10,000 meter run in 40:22.28.
Moravian picked up another 17 points in the pole vault as junior Dana Fineman was second at the same winning height as Kester but in more attempts. Senior Amanda Smilgis was fourth at 2.90 meters (nine feet, 6.25 inches) and freshman Casey Raymond took fifth at 2.75 meters (nine feet, 0.25 inches).
The Greyhounds scored an additional 15 points in the long jump with freshman Lauren Suelke in second at 4.89 meters (16 feet, 0.5 inches), Raymond with a mark of 4.74 meters (15 feet, seven inches) and junior Giana Vecchio placing seventh at 4.56 meters (14 feet, 11.5 inches).
Sophomore Tyler Clore was the runner-up in the javelin with a toss of 34.00 meters (111 feet, six inches) while sophomore Karlee Corvasce was third at 31.84 meters (104 feet, five inches) to give Moravian 14 points in the event.
Junior Jenny Kratch finished as the runner-up in the hammer throw with an ECAC qualifying toss of 45.89 meters (150 feet, seven inches) while Clore was fifth at 35.00 meters (114, 10 inches) and freshman Jackie Finnegan was sixth at 34.95 meters (114 feet, eight inches) for a total of 15 points in the hammer throw towards the team score.
Junior Emily Lambright was third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:55.53 while freshman Sarah Hughes was seventh in 5:12.95 and senior Jennifer Smilgis took eighth in 5:15.16 to combine to score nine points for the Greyhounds. Junior Jessie Goldberg was sixth in the 10,000 meters in 42.41.80 to give Moravian 13 points in the race.
In the preliminaries of the 100 meter dash, the Greyhounds qualified six of the eight for Sunday's final. Junior Brianna Wright turned in the fastest qualifying time with an ECAC qualifying mark of 12.33 seconds, and she was followed by junior Brielle Sutter in third with an ECAC mark of 12.56 seconds, sophomore Corinne Glass in fourth in 12.76 seconds, junior Morgan Redmond in fifth at 12.99 seconds, Reglas is sixth in 13.03 seconds and Suelke is seventh at 13.15 seconds.
Sutter had the fastest qualifying time in the 200-meter dash with an ECAC qualifying mark of 25.97 seconds, and she was one of three Greyhounds to hit the ECAC mark in the preliminaries. Wright had a time of 25.98 while Glass ran 26.00, and Reglas made the finals as well with a 26.86.
Sutter and Glass also qualified for the finals in the 400 meter dash as Sutter ran the second fastest qualifying time with an ECAC mark of 59.71 seconds while Glass finished sixth in 1:02.54.
Redmond turned in the top qualifying time in the 100-meter hurdles in an ECAC qualifying time of 15.45 seconds, and freshman Meghan Newman and Vecchio also made the finals as Newman was second in 16.33 seconds and Vecchio placed sixth in 17.72 seconds.
Sunday's second day of action at the Landmark Championships kicks off at 9:00 a.m. with the discus.
