Saturday, May 28, 2011

MORAVIAN HAS THREE INDIVIDUALS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS AT 2011 NCAA DIVISION III
OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

DELAWARE, OH --- The Moravian College men's & women's outdoor track & field teams produced three individual national champions at the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University.

Junior Abigail Schaffer (Easton, PA/Easton HS) won the women's pole vault on Friday while senior Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/Pius X HS) captured the 100 and 200-meter dashes on Saturday. Junior Gary Zack (Mountain Top, PA/Crestwood HS) also won the men's javelin on Saturday.

Schaffer, pictured at right, was seeded second in the event and passed on the first five heights before clearing her first attempt at 3.84 meters. Schaffer also needed just one attempt at 3.94 meters and the winning height of 4.14 meters (13 feet, seven inches), breaking Anna Heim's '10 meet record set last spring. Schaffer and Catherine Street fromLinfield College both made three attempts at 4.24 meters (13 feet, 11 inches) but neither wasable to clear the bar. Schaffer captured the title over Street by needing just one vault at 4.14 meters and only missing once at 4.04 meters while Street missed once at 4.14 and twice at 4.04. Karin Fisher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was thirdin the event at 4.04 meters. Schaffer's win earned ten points for the Greyhounds, and the squad finished in a tie for 19th of 83 teams scoring in the meet.

Schaffer joined Heim, Woodruff, Ozzie Brown, Jeff Cullingford and Christina Scherwin with two national championships, and her title is Moravian's 17th individual championship and the 16th from the track & field program.

Woodruff, pictured at left, captured a pair of national championships to become the first student-athlete in school history to win more than two NCAA titles. Woodruff opened his afternoon by winning his first 100-meter dash title with a winning time of 10.90 seconds. He won the race by two-hundredths of a second, and all eight competitors were separated by just 12 hundredths of a second in the race. Woodruff then won the 200-meter dash for the third straight year in dominating fashion. After winning his preliminary heat by six-tenths of a second, Woodruff won the national title by half a second with a winning time of 21.55 seconds into a strong headwind. For Woodruff, he completes his career with fourth NCAA titles, three in the 200-meter dash, and he graduates as a seven-time All-American.

Zack, pictured at right, won the javelin throw with his first toss of the meet, a Moravian school record toss of 67.36 meters (221 feet). Zack had the longest throw by two feet, one inch over Lars Tenglin from North Park University, who entered the meet with the top distance in the nation, and Zack earned All-America honors for the first time in his career. Zack competed in the second flight of the preliminaries and actually fouled on his second and third attempts. In the finals, Zack had throws of 60.43, 60.50 and 59.13 meters.

With Woodruff's two title and Zack's championship, the Moravian men scored 30 points in the meet and finishes sixth of 82 teams scoring points. The titles also give Moravian a total of 20 individual national champions with 19 from the track & field programs.