MORAVIAN’S JESSICA POSIMO NAMED MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD ROOKIE OF THE YEAR; DOUG POLLARD EARNS COACH OF THE YEAR HONORS

ANNVILLE, PA --- Freshman sprinter/jumper Jessica Posimo (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil Academy) of the Moravian College women’s indoor track & field team has been named the 2007 Middle Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year for her performance at the 2007 MAC Indoor Championships hosted by Susquehanna University on February 24th.

Head coach Doug Pollard was named the MAC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year after leading the Greyhounds to their 11th title in the last 12 years. Moravian had a team score of 160 points, which included sweeping all 31 points in the 200-meter dash, and finished 71 points ahead of the host Crusaders. There were a total of ten teams in the meet.

Posimo, pictured at right, captured the award after winning the long jump with a leap of 5.22 meters (17 feet, 1 1/2 inches) and triple jump with a distance of 10.65 meters (34 feet, 11 1/4 inches), placing second in the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 8.65 seconds, third in the high jump after clearing 1.52 meters (four feet, 11 3/4 inches) and fifth in the 200-meter dash in a time of 27.72 seconds.

The Greyhounds had three other individual winners on the women's side with freshman Anna Heim (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown HS) winning the pole vault with an MAC meet record and NCAA Division III automatic qualifying height of 3.81 meters (12 feet, six inches), senior Erin Recker (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua HS) taking the 55-meter dash in a time of 7.34 seconds and freshman Dana Haslett (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge HS) captured first in the 200-meter dash in an MAC meet record time of 25.99 seconds. Heim’s height in the pole vault is the second best height of the year to date in Division III, moving her up from 22nd on the NCAA Division III performance list.

Moravian also had two relay teams finish first with the 4x200-meter relay squad of Recker, Haslett senior Amy Reehil (Roselle, NJ/Roselle Catholic HS) and freshman Rachel Beck (Churchville, PA/Council Rock South HS) taking the top spot in 1:46.43 and the 4x400-meter relay team of Heim, Haslett, Reehil and freshman Kaitlyn Boyer (Oley, PA/Oley Valley HS) finishing first in a time of 4:13.37.

On the men’s side, Moravian finished second of ten teams with a score of 104 points, just ten points behind champion Elizabethtown College. Junior Ozzie Brown (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh HS) paced the Greyhounds winning the 55-meter hurdles in an MAC meet record and an NCAA Division III automatic qualifying time of 7.53 seconds, the second fastest time in the nation to date. Brown also captured the 200-meter dash in 22.37 seconds, and he was the runner-up in the high jump at 1.97 meters (six feet, five inches), the long jump at 6.78 meters (22 feet, three inches) and the 55-meter dash in 6.51 seconds.

Moravian's only other first place finish in the championship was by the 4x200-meter relay team of Brown, senior Josh Kline (Reading, PA/Exeter HS), junior James Bell (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin HS) and sophomore Robert Shaffer (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville HS) in a time of 1:31.55.