HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's outdoor track & field squad continued its dominance at the 2016 Landmark Conference Championships hosted by Juniata College with the Greyhounds winning their ninth consecutive Landmark crown.
In addition to sweeping the team titles, Head Coach Jesse Baumann and his staff of assistants Jonathan D'Ottavio (throws), Mike Lawyrk (pole vault), Bob Luciano (javelin), Steve Rahn (sprints/hurdles), Gary Zack (javelin), Michael El Kazzaz (pole vault), Racquel Farquharson (jumps), Tim Lorah (throws) and Robert Shaffer (sprints) were named both the men's and women's Coaching Staff of the Year.
The women's program at Moravian has won 22 outdoor conference titles since 1993 including 15 since 2000 and every Landmark Conference title since the conference was founded. In the 2016 meet, the Greyhounds scored 271 points while runner-up Elizabethtown College had 177.5 points.
"The women executed things about how we expected them to during the meet," noted Baumann. "We were able to get big points from senior Corinne Glass, junior Meg Brockett, sophomore Trista Cunningham, freshman Anna Osman and sophomore Melissa Cheong just to name a few. After that the team depth chipped in to help us get the rest of the points we needed to seal the victory. One of our strengths this year was we were pretty well-rounded, and it really helps in a meet like this."
On the second day of competition Sunday, the women had eight event champions including a relay team led by Glass, who was selected as the Track Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive outdoor meet, and three straight overall counting the indoor championships this past February. Glass won the 200-meter dash in a meet, conference and school record and ECAC qualifying time of 24.78 seconds. The time moves Glass into a tie for 13th in the event on the Track & Field Results Reporting System with the top 22 females in each event competing at the NCAA Championships later this month. Glass also captured the 400-meter dash in an ECAC qualifying time of 57.31 seconds, and she was second in the 100-meter dash in 12.66 seconds.
Glass teamed with senior Meghan Newman, junior Lauren White and freshman Amari Schooler to win the 4x100-meter relay in an ECAC qualifying time of 48.90 seconds. White finished sixth in the 100-meter dash in 13.19 seconds while Schooler was seventh in 13.33 seconds. Freshman Abigail Strouse was eighth in the 100-meter dash in 13.35 seconds while Newman placed second in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.07 seconds and sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:11.12. Schooler took fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.18 seconds while freshman Sarah DeFranco placed eighth in 17.99 seconds.
Osman was honored as the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year after winning the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.95, and she was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.33 seconds, and part of Moravian's second place 4x400-meter relay team with fellow freshmen Maike Krischer, Tamara Suchan and Monica Richardson with a time of 4:04.34. Krischer placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.59, and she was followed by Suchan in sixth place at 1:01.93, and Richardson in eighth with a time of 1:02.75.
Brockett captured her second title of the meet Sunday when she won the 5,000-meter run in a time of 18:57 while junior Sarah Hughes was third in the 5K at 19:13.48 and eighth in the 800-meter run in 2:23.28. Cheong won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.79 seconds.
Sophomore Casie Cronk and Cheong jumped the same height in the high jump of 1.62 meters (5-3.75) with Cronk winning the event on fewer attempts at the winning height. Junior Kiara Bright was the runner-up in the triple jump at 10.70 meters (35-1.25) while DeFanco took fifth at 10.32 meters (33-10.25) and sophomore Carly Thorpe was sixth at 10.28 meters (33-8.75).
Senior Abbey Clark won the shot put with a toss of 11.63 meters (38-2) while Cunningham was second at 11.10 meters (36-5) and followed by sophomore Ciara Stewart in fourth at 10.65 meters (34-11.25) and sophomore Maggie Heft in seventh at 10.31 meters (33-10). Sophomore Mary Kate Duncan was the runner-up in the javelin with an ECAC qualifying toss of 43.85 meters (143-10) while sophomore Nicole Capuano placed fifth at 34.58 meters (113-5).
The Greyhounds are scheduled to compete next at the 2016 ECAC Division III Outdoor Championships at Westfield State College in Massachusetts on Wednesday and Thursday, May 18-19.
