Mazur Earns All-America Status To Lead Landmark At NCAA Track Championships

MARIETTA, Ohio - Juniata College senior Kyle Mazur earned All-America honors for the second time in his career to pace a host of Landmark athletes on the first day of competition at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Marietta, Ohio.

Mazur placed second in the event as his best throw in the finals flight was on his fifth throw, when he posted a mark of 62.14m (203-10). He finished second behind Concordia University (Wisc.) junior Brock Solveson, who won with a throw of 63.52m (208-5). Mazur previously earned All-America honors in the javelin in 2007, when he finished seventh. He is the first two-time men's track and field All-American in Juniata history. Mazur finished fifth out of nine competitors in his flight, and was eighth out of the nine competitors who advanced to the final flight. His best throw in the first round was 58.71m (192-7).

Also competing in the javelin were Juniata freshman Dustin Drake and Moravian College freshman Gary Zach. Drake (Mount Union, Pa./Mount Union) finished eighth in his flight with a throw of 55.23m (181-2). Zach was the only Greyhound to compete in a finals event on the first day of the meet. Zach qualified for the javelin in the 17th and final spot but his third throw of the preliminaries, a toss of 58.26 meters (191 feet, two inches), earned Zach one of the nine spots in the finals. He was unable to improve his distance in three additional throws to finish ninth overall, just two feet, five inches shy of eighth place and All-American honors.

Moravian and Juniata both had women competing in finals in the long jump event on day one as well as the Moravian 4x100 relay team in preliminaries.

Moravian's 4x100-meter relay team of juniors Rachel Beck, Jessica Posimo and Symonne Scott and sophomore Sydni Wisniewski started the meet for the Greyhounds with a school record time of 47.52 seconds. The time was good enough for third in their heat, and more importantly eighth overall of the 14 competing relay teams moving the Greyhounds into Saturday's championship race at 1:10 p.m. Moravian will run in lane one for the championship.

Scott and Posimo also competed in the long jump competition on the first day of the meet and were joined by Juniata's Kelsey Buffenmyer. Scott was fourth in her flight and tenth of the 20 competitors with a jump of 5.40 meters (17 feet, 8 3/4 inches). Posimo was tenth in the flight and 17th overall at a distance of 5.28 meters (17 feet, four inches). Buffenmyer also jumped in flight two and was seventh in the flight and tied for 12th overall with a best leap of 5.35 meters. She will compete in the high jump finals on Saturday.

Rounding out the Landmark competition on day one were a pair of Moravian men in preliminary action. Sophomore Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/Pius X HS) won his heat and posted the fastest time of the 17 runners in the 200-meter dash at 21.29 seconds to advance to the finals on Saturday at 3:35 p.m. where he will be in lane four. Senior Nathaniel Tussey (Perkiomenville, PA/Boyertown HS) competed in the preliminaries of the 400-meter hurdles finishing third in his heat in a season best time of 52.95 seconds. However, Tussey was tied for ninth among the 16 runners, missing a return trip to the finals by nine-hundredths of a second. Tussey placed fifth in the event last spring when he earned All-American honors in both hurdle events.

Competition will continue at the three-day NCAA Championships with more prelims and finals on Friday. Moravian's Anna Heim will be participating in the pole vault on Friday, while Susquehanna University's Paul Thistle is running in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Story provided by Juniata and Moravian Sports Information