Wednesday, March 12, 2008

MORAVIAN’S OZZIE BROWN & WALT WANDALL HONORED BY USTFCCCA

METAIRIE, LA --- Senior jumper/sprinter Ozzie Brown (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh HS) and head coach Walt Wandall of the Moravian College men’s indoor track & field team have been honored as the Mideast Region Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year and Men’s Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Wednesday.

Brown, who was the only student-athlete to win both the track and field awards in the eight USTFCCCA regions, won five individual events and ran on a winning relay team at the inaugural Landmark Conference Championships as Moravian won the title.  Last weekend, Brown scored 35 of Moravian’s 56 points as the team finished as the runner-up at the 2008 ECAC Division III Championships. He captured the ECAC Championship in the 200-meter dash in a school record time of 21.98 seconds, and Brown set an ECAC record in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.43 seconds, also a Moravian record.

Brown, pictured at right, has set school records this winter in the 55-meter dash and 55-meter high hurdles and will compete in both events at this weekend’s NCAA Division III National Championships, entering the meet tied for 13th in the 55-meter dash and second in the 55-meter high hurdles.  Brown, who was an All-American in the 55-meter high hurdles in 2007 with a fourth place finish at the national championships, will also compete in the long jump at the NCAA meet, beginning the competition with the top ranked distance in the nation this season at 23 feet, 11 inches.

Wandall, pictured at left, took over the program after seven years as an assistant coach when former head coach Doug Pollard, last year’s USTFCCCA Women’s Mideast Region Coach of the Year, passed away suddenly last October.  Wandall led the Greyhounds to their inaugural Landmark Conference Championship and a second place finish at the ECAC Division III Championships on the men’s side and the Landmark Conference and ECAC Championships for the women.  Wandall has a total of two student-athletes, Brown and sophomore Anna Heim (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown HS) from the women’s squad heading to the NCAA Division III National Championships this Friday and Saturday, March 14th and 15th at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.

The complete list of regional winners can be found at http://ustfccca.cstv.com/sports/division3/spec-rel/031208aaa.html.