Tuesday, May 13, 2008

MORAVIAN TO SEND 29 STUDENT-ATHLETES TO COMPETE AT 2008 ECAC DIVISION III
OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

SPRINGFIELD, MA --- Moravian College has qualified 29 student-athletes, 15 females and 14 males, to compete at the 2008 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts on Thursday, May 15th and Friday, May 16th.

Both of the Greyhound squads have had the last two and a half weeks to prepare for the ECAC Championships after winning the inaugural Landmark Conference Outdoor Championships on April 25th and 26th at Moravian’s Rocco Calvo Field and Timothy Breidegam Track.  The Moravian women will look to repeat their title from the 2008 ECAC Division III Indoor Championships back in March at Harvard University while the men will try to win their first ECAC title after placing second at the indoor meet.

On the women’s side, sophomore Jessica Posimo (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil Academy) will be competing in five individual and two relay events as well for the Greyhounds.  Posimo, pictured at right, qualified in the 100-meter dash in 12.78 seconds, the 200-meter dash in 25.84 seconds, the 110-meter hurdles in 14.77 seconds, the long jump with a leap of 5.42 meters (17 feet, 9 ½ inches) and the triple jump with a distance of 10.96 meters (35 feet, 11 ½ inches).

Posimo will also run on Moravian’s 4x100-meter relay team along with sophomore Rachel Beck (Churchville, PA/Council Rock South HS), sophomore Symonne Scott (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro HS) and freshman Sydni Wisniewski (Orlando, FL/Winter Park HS) after the quartet qualified with a time of 48.07.  Posimo and Wisniewski will also run in the 4x400-meter relay with sophomores Katelyn Chando (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh HS) and Anna Heim (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown HS) after qualifying in 3:49.83.

Wisniewski, the Landmark Conference Female Track Athlete of the Meet, will compete in four individual events after qualifying in the 100-meter dash in 12.52 seconds, the 200-meter dash in 25.49 seconds, the 400-meter dash in 58.40 seconds and the long jump with a leap of 5.20 meters (17 feet, ¾ inch).  Beck is also scheduled to run in the 100-meter dash after qualifying in 12.45 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 25.83seconds while Scott will compete in three events, the 100-meter dash with a qualifying time of 12.60 seconds, the 200-meter dash with a qualifying mark of 25.57 seconds and the long jump with a qualifying leap of 5.57 meters (18 feet, 3 ¼ inches).

Chando is qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.86 while Heim will compete in the 400-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 1:06.28.  Freshman Shannon McEvoy (Lafayette, NJ/High Point Regional HS) will participate in the 100-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 15.44 seconds.  Freshman Alexandra Lopez (Manasquan, NJ/Manasquan HS) will compete in the 100-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 16.17 seconds while freshman Tara Chiarella (Hallstead, PA/Montrose Area HS) is slated to run in the 10,000 meters after posting a qualifying time of 40:26.56.

In the field events, Heim will compete in the pole vault after clearing a qualifying height of 3.85 meters (12 feet, 7 ½ inches) while junior Christine Kihm (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown HS) qualified with a vault of 3.55 meters (11 feet, 7 ¾ inches) and junior Thea Kennerknecht (Central Valley, NY/Monroe-Woodbury HS) qualified in the pole vault at 3.25 meters (ten feet, eight inches).  Freshman Mary King (Paramus, NJ/Paramus HS) is qualified in the javelin throw with a toss of 41.58 meters (136 feet, five inches) while freshman Kaleen Holden (Scranton, PA/Bishop Hoban HS) has a qualifying mark of 38.34 meters (125 feet, nine inches) in the javelin.

Sophomore Flora Robertson (Hawley, PA/East Stroudsburg North HS) will participate in the hammer throw with a qualifying toss of 46.80 meters (153 feet, six inches).  Sophomore Rachel Riggs (Gettysburg, PA/Gettysburg HS) is scheduled to compete in the long jump with a qualifying leap of 5.19 meters (17 feet, ½ inch) and the triple jump with a qualifying distance of 11.02 meters (36 feet, two inches).

On the men’s side, senior Ozzie Brown (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh HS) will be participating in six individual events and two relays for the Greyhounds.  Brown, pictured at left, is scheduled to compete in the 100-meter dash with a qualifying time of 10.63 seconds, the 200-meter dash with a qualifying time of 21.56 seconds, the 400-meter dash with a qualifying mark of 48.85 seconds, the 110-meter high hurdles with a qualifying time of 14.27 seconds, the high jump with a qualifying height of 1.93 meters (six feet, four inches) and the long jump with a qualifying leap of 7.26 meters (23 feet, ten inches).

Brown, who was the Landmark Conference Male Field Athlete of the Meet and the 2008 NCAA Division III Indoor National Champion in the long jump, will also run in the 4x100-meter relay along with senior James Bell (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin HS) junior Rob Shaffer (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville HS) and freshman Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/St. Pius X HS) after a qualifying time of 41.88 seconds.  Brown will run in the 4x400-meter relay with senior Nathaniel Tussey (Perkiomenville, PA/Boyertown HS) and freshmen Warner Jones (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough HS) and Connor Skutches (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty HS) after a qualifying time of 3:18.96.

Shaffer and Bell will also compete in the 100-meter dash after qualifying times of 10.83 and 11.15 seconds respectively while Woodruff will run in the 100-meter dash with a qualifying time of 11.00 seconds and the 200-meter dash with a qualifying time of 22.06 seconds.  Shaffer is also qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.34 seconds.

Jones is slated to compete in the 200-meter dash with a qualifying time of 22.27 seconds and the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.22 seconds.  Tussey is scheduled to run in the 110-meter high hurdles with a qualifying time of 14.47 seconds, the 400-meter hurdles with a qualifying mark of 52.89 seconds and the 400-meter dash with a qualifying time of 49.12 seconds. 

Sophomore Timothy Murphy (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) is qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.74 seconds while Skutches will run in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:01.63.  Senior Josh Hunter (Palmerton, PA/Palmerton HS) is also qualified in the 1,500-meter run in 4:01.83.

Sophomore Michael Blenk (Inwood, NY/Lawrence HS) qualified in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.82 seconds.  Blenk is also competing in the triple jump after a qualifying distance of 13.20 meters (43 feet, 3 ¾ inches), the long jump with a qualifying leap of 6.86 meters (22 feet, 6 ¼ inches) and the decathlon after a qualifying point total of 5,830 points.  Brown is also qualified in the decathlon but will not compete in the event at the ECAC meet.

Also competing in the field events for the Greyhound men will be junior Blair Maginnis (Asbury, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS), who is qualified in the shot put with a toss of 15.29 meters (50 feet, two inches), junior Alan Woods (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cedar Cliff HS), who qualified in the pole vault at a height of 4.70 meters (15 feet, five inches), senior Allan Fatzinger (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua HS), who also qualified for the pole vault clearing 4.20 meters (13 feet, 9 ¼ inches), and junior Justin Starcher (Greentown, PA/Wallenpaupack HS), who is qualified in the javelin throw with a toss of 54.98 meters (180 feet, four inches).