May 4, 2000

GREYHOUND TRACK & FIELD TEAMS TO COMPETE FOR MAC TITLE;
WOMEN’S LOOKING FOR 8th STRAIGHT OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

BETHELHEM, PA --- The Moravian College men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams will compete in the 2000 Middle Atlantic Conference Championships at Widener University in Chester on Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th.

The women’s team is looking for its eighth straight MAC Outdoor title after winning its fifth consecutive championship in the indoor season. The men’s squad will be trying to capture its first MAC Outdoor Championship since 1996. The men placed second at this year’s indoor meet.

Leading the women’s team will be a host of sophomores led by Heidi Wolfsberger (Moosic/Riverside HS), Emily Shertzer (Hummelstown/Lower Dauphin HS), Erin Boyle (Philadelphia/Nazareth Academy), Kim Jaick (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh HS) and Steph Horne (Sinking Spring/Wilson West Lawn HS) on the track and Sarah Shaneberger (Bethlehem/Southern Lehigh HS), Carrie McCaffery (Lebanon/Annville-Cleona HS) and Jennifer Lohn (Media/Penncrest HS).

Wolfsberger, who placed second in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in the 1,500 meters to earn All-American accolades, has already automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters and she has provisionally qualified in the 5,000 meters. Wolfsberger holds the top time in the MAC this spring in the 800, 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. Shertzer is a NCAA Division III provisional qualifier in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Shertzer is second to Wolfsberger in the 5,000 meters in the MAC this season and leads the conference in the 10,000 meters.

Boyle ranks second in the MAC in the 800 meters and is third in the 1,500 meters while Jaick is fourth in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. Horne is ranked second in the MAC in the 110-meter high hurdles and fifth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. Freshman Jen Ketz (Canadensis/Pocono Mountain HS) is first in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and joins Horne on the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams for the Greyhounds that are both ranked fifth in the MAC.

Shaneberger leads Moravian in the field by being ranked second in the MAC in three events, the shot put, the discus and the hammer throw. McCaffery is second in the javelin and fourth in the shot put. Lohn, who competed in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the javelin in 1999, is third in the MAC in the javelin this season after returning from an injury that kept her out the first half of the season.

On the men’s side, senior Tim Pfluger (Slatington/Northern Lehigh HS) is looking to become the first male in the history of the MAC to win the 1,500 meters four years in a row. In fact, Pfluger, who is ranked first in the event this spring, is looking for his seventh gold medal in the event with three titles indoors and three more outdoors. Pfluger is also ranked second in the 5,000 meters.

Sophomore Josh Heebner (Lansdale/North Penn HS) heads into this weekend’s championships ranked third in the 800 meters while freshman Wes Zimmerman (Boyertown/ Boyertown HS) is third in the 10,000 meters. Senior Dan Oliynik (Dover, NJ/Morris Knolls HS) looks to defend his two-time championship in the 110-meter high hurdles and he is ranked third this spring. Junior Damon Rutherford (Reading/Exeter HS) is fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase this spring.

Junior Anthony Rediger (Sellersville/Pennridge HS) will lead the Greyhounds in the field events. Rediger is ranked third this season in the high jump and fifth in the triple jump. Rediger nearly provisionally qualified in the triple jump earlier this spring with a leap of 13.95 meters. Junior Bill Schmidt (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge HS) enters the MAC meet ranked third in the shot put this spring, an event Schmidt won a MAC Indoor Championship in 1999.