Landmark Adds Another All-American On Day Two Of NCAA Track Championships

MARIETTA, Ohio - The second day of competition at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Marietta, Ohio saw a Landmark athlete earn All-America honors for the second time in as many days as Moravian junior Anna Heim placed second in the pole vault to claim that honor.

Heim cleared a height of 3.92 meters (12 feet, 10 1/4 inches) on her second attempt to earn eight points, and she attempted, 4.02 meters (13 feet, 2 1/4 inches), the winning height by Rachel Secrest of North Central College, which set a new NCAA Division III meet record. Heim missed on her three attempts at the height after clearing it at last week's ECAC Division III Championships.

This marks the second time Heim finished as the runner-up to Secrest at the national meet as both competitors cleared 3.86 meters (12 feet, eight inches) at the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships with Secrest doing it in fewer attempts to win the title.

The eight points earned by Heim puts the Greyhounds in a tie for tenth of the 48 teams that have scored a point through two days of competition. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is currently first with 33 points.

On the men’s side, Moravian had two competitors in preliminary heats on Friday. The Greyhound men still have not scored in the meet as Linfield (OR) College is first of 43 teams that have scored with 18 points.

Sophomore Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/Pius X HS) advanced to the finals in his second event of the championship, placing second in his heat and sixth overall in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.83 seconds. Woodruff will be in lane seven on Saturday for the championship race at 2:30 p.m. He will also run on the finals of the 200-meter dash on Saturday at 3:35 p.m.

Senior Nathaniel Tussey (Perkiomenville, PA/Boyertown HS) just missed making the finals in his second hurdle event of the meet. Tussey posted a time of 14.81 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles, which was good enough for second in his heat, but was ninth of 17 overall, missing the finals by five hundredths of a second.

Also in action among Landmark competitors on Friday was Susquehanna University junior Paul Thistle who competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Thistle (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) placed 15th in the event, running a time of 9 minutes, 35.61 seconds, slower than his personal-best time of 9:05.71, recorded at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet on May 11 of this season.

The NCAA Championships will conclude on Saturday with finals in the majority of the track events along with several field finals. Moravian will have Woodruff competing in the finals of the 100 and 200-meter dashes, and will have a quartet of women running in the finals of the 4x100-meter relay. Juniata College senior Kelsey Buffenmyer will be in action in the women's high jump on Saturday.

Story provided by Moravian and Susquehanna Sports Information