Top 10 Stories of 2014-15 - #9 Four Hounds Earn Major Awards from Landmark Conference
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at the 2014-15 athletic campaign with Top 10 Stories from the past year including the No. 9 story – four Greyhounds earning major track & field awards from the Landmark Conference.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at the 2014-15 athletic campaign with Top 10 Stories from the past year including the No. 9 story – four Greyhounds earning major track & field awards from the Landmark Conference.
Moravian had four student-athletes achieve a total of five Landmark Conference honors in 2014-15 with sophomore Kahron Walker being named the Landmark Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Year both indoors and outdoors. Junior Corinne Glass was honored as the Landmark Conference Women's Track Athlete of the Year at the outdoor championships while freshmen Melissa Cheong and Eric Morton were both named the Landmark Conference Rookies of the Year at the indoor meet.
Walker swept the Field Athlete of the Year awards with a pair of outstanding performances at the conference championships. Indoors, Walker won the high jump title and a spot on the Landmark All-Conference First Team with a height of 1.93 meters (6-4), and he was the runner-up in both the long jump at 6.77 meters (22-2.5) and the triple jump with a mark of 13.54 meters (44-5.25) to make the All-Conference Second Team. At the outdoor championship, Walker captured titles in both the high jump at 2.00 meters (6-6.75) and in the triple jump at 13.53 meters (44-4.75) for a pair of All-Conference First Team honors. He was also third in the long jump at 6.69 meters (21-11.5).
"It was shocking to win the award once giving the great competition I was going up against, and it was truly an honor to win it twice with even more competition the second time around," commented Walker. "I work very hard during the off season and also during the competing season so it felt great to see my hard work starting to show."
"Kahron is great at rising to the occasion, especially at our conference meets," stated Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "He's a 'gamer' but on top of that he's willing to extend himself for the sake of the team. To be honest, that's how we discovered his talents in the horizontal jumps. They were more of an experiment to see if he'd be able to help us more at Landmarks instead of just doing the high jump, and then he ended up really excelling in it. We can always count on him to step up at our conference meets, with this year being no different."
Glass had a memorable outdoor championship meet. She was the conference champion and All-Conference First Team selection after posting meet and school record times of 24.98 seconds in the preliminaries of 200-meter dash before winning the final at 25.27 seconds, and a time of 57.61 seconds in the 400 meter dash. Glass was also part of Moravian's winning 4x100-meter relay squad that had a meet record time of 47.95 seconds, and she was second in the 100-meter dash in 12.94 seconds to earn All-Conference Second Team accolades.
"Corinne was a tremendous athlete coming out of high school, so we're not surprised she could reach the level she did, it was more a question of when it would happen," explained Baumann. "She had a hamstring injury and other setbacks over the past 16 months, but she finally reclaimed her health and confidence staring this April. She just seemed to be on another level at Landmarks. I don't mean this as any disrespect towards other talented athletes in the field, but Corinne looked dominant that weekend and had one of the better conferences meet performances ever from a Moravian College female sprinter."
Cheong was a member of the Landmark All-Conference First Team indoors with a win in the high jump at 1.57 meters (5-1.75), and she was on the All-Conference Second Team with runner-up finishes in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.54 seconds and the long jump at 5.03 meters (16-6).
"As with any freshman, Melissa had her ups and downs," Baumann said. "She started the indoor season off with a bang by jumping 17'6" in her first ever collegiate long jump and then couldn't quite get back to that first big mark which affected her confidence a little going into Landmarks. We talked to her about switching her focus from worrying about matching that first huge jump of the season and work more on competing and she delivered with two second place performances and winning the high jump as a freshman. She had a great conclusion to her outdoor season in the high jump, and the confidence she gained from that will help propel her to her potential, which we feel will include a number of NCAA meets in the next three years."
Morton earned All-Conference Second Team honors for a runner-up finish as part of Moravian's 4x200-meter relay team in 1:34.12 at the indoor championships, and he also placed third in the 60-meter dash in 7.14 seconds and fourth in the 200-meter dash in 23.51 seconds.
"Honestly, receiving Rookie of the Year for the men was a complete shock," Morton stated. "I was not even aware that the award even existed. Upon receiving this award I was excited that I got acknowledged for my merits. Funny thing about this is that everyone knew but me. While I appreciate the congratulations and pats of the back, all the glory goes to God. Through Him I was able to focus and do what had to be done... even with a hurt hamstring. I am excited to see what He has planned for me in the upcoming seasons."
"Like some other athletes on our team, Eric is great at rising to the occasion when it's needed," Baumann explained. "Two weeks before the conference meet, Eric was in a bit of a slump and ran a somewhat infamous leg on our 4x200 relay. However, at Landmarks he pulled out his best effort and had huge PRs in the 60m and 200m dashes, and redeemed himself with a stellar 4x200 leg to help contribute 18 points to our team total as just a freshman. We're really excited about the future of our short sprints crew, and Eric is a big reason for that optimism going forward."
Number eight on our Top 10 Stories will be announced on Friday, July 31.
