TOWSON, Md. --- The 2016-17 Moravian College women's indoor track and field squad has been picked first overall in the Landmark Conference preseason poll as chosen by the Landmark coaches.
The squad returns 29 student athletes from last year's Landmark Conference Championship squad as well as adding 18 new student athletes. The team received a total of 50 votes, which was 14 more than the next closest team and five first-place votes. The Greyhounds have won all nine Landmark Conference Indoor titles since the conference began competition in 2007-08.
Sixth-year Head Coach Jesse Baumann's group of returnees will be led by junior jumper/hurdler Melissa Cheong, who was the 2016 Landmark Conference Indoor Co-Field Athlete of the Year. Cheong captured the long jump a year ago, and she was second in the high jump. Moravian returns eight other Landmark Champions from a year ago including senior distance runner Meg Brockett, who won both the 3K and 5K races last winter and was an All-American in cross country. Senior sprinter/jumper Kiara Bright returns to defend her title in the triple jump while senior thrower Jackie Finnegan captured the weight throw in 2016.
Juniors jumper Casie Cronk in the high jump and pole vaulter Beth Ann Davies aim to win titles again this winter along with sophomore sprinter/hurdler Amari Schooler in the 60-meter hurdles and sophomore sprinters Anna Osman and Tamara Suchan in the 4x400-meter relay. Senior Rebecca Flitcroft returns after making the Landmark All-Conference Second Team with a runner-up finish in the 60-meter hurdles.
"The women kept a lot of our depth from last year but lost a few key athletes, most notably Corinne Glass, Christelle Reglas, and Maike Krischer," noted Baumann. "They all scored a tremendous amount of points for our team and will be tough, if not impossible to replace.
"However, the first meet at Lehigh showed we still have some good talent on the roster. Mel, Casie, Kiara, Beth Ann, and junior Carly Thorpe will be huge for us in the jumps, and we have a number of good sprinters like Anna, Tamara, senior Lauren White, Amari and Rebecca when she gets back from her study abroad who can help us a lot at Landmarks, and even beyond that," continued Baumann. "Jackie and junior Maggie Heft had good starts to their season in the throws, and I feel a number of our young distance runners may be better suited towards track than cross country, so as with the men the potential for a successful season is there. However, we have to rely on new faces to step up and fill in for some really big points we just graduated. They have the talent and ability, they just have to commit to success like previous athletes and teams here at Moravian have done."
Moravian is scheduled to compete in its second meet of the season at Lehigh University for the Fast Times Before Finals meet on Friday, December 9 and Saturday, December 10.
To view the full 2016-17 Landmark Conference Women's Indoor Track & Field Preseason Poll, visit http://landmarkconference.org/sports/track/2016-17/releases/12082016windtpreseason.
