Moravian Track Teams Defend ECAC Titles

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - For the second straight year, the Moravian College men’s and women’s track & field teams are returning home from Springfield College as the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Outdoor Track and Field Champions after both Greyhounds repeated as champions in the two-day meet.

The Moravian men posted a team total of 64.5 points to top the 56 schools that scored points, winning by 19.5 points. RIT placed second with 45 points while RPI and Ithaca College tied for third with 36 points. For complete results, visit http://www.nesportstiming.com/results/ecac09.htm .

The Greyhound women had a team total of 67 points to top the 56 schools that scored points. Cabrini College was second with 60 points while MIT was third with 58 points.

On the men’s side, senior Nathaniel Tussey (Perkiomenville, PA/Boyertown HS) was named the 2009 ECAC Most Outstanding Male Performer after capturing two individual titles on the second day of the meet. Tussey won the 110-meter high hurdles in an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 14.49 seconds, matching his best time of the season and keeping Tussey tied for seventh in the event heading into next week's NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships. Tussey also won the 400-meter hurdles in an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 52.96 seconds. The time took nearly a full second off of Tussey's best time of the season and moved him up to eighth in the nation heading to the national championships. Tussey earned 20 of Moravian's points with his two wins.

The Greyhounds had one other individual champion with sophomore Eric Woodruff (Brodheadsville, PA/St. Pius X HS) capturing the 200-meter dash in an ECAC meet record and Moravian school record time of 21.22 seconds. Woodruff's time, which was a hundredth of a second faster than his previous school mark, met the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III National Championships and kept him ranked second in the country heading into next week's championship meet.

Woodruff, who earned ten points for his win in the 200-meter dash, earned another six points with a third place finish in the 100-meter dash in 10.91 seconds while senior Robert Shaffer (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville HS) earned three points with a sixth place in the race in 11.13 seconds. Shaffer also placed 13th in the 200-meter dash in 22.48 seconds while senior Timothy Murphy was 13th in the 800-meter run in 1:56.05. Sophomore Warner Jones (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough HS) placed 17th in the 400-meter dash in 50.23 seconds.

Moravian scored is final 13 points in the field events. Senior Blair Maginnis (Asbury, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) was the runner-up in the shot put with a toss of 14.99 meters (49 feet, 2 1/4 inches) to earn eight points. Junior Michael Blenk (Inwood, NY/Lawrence HS) placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 6.93 meters (22 feet, nine inches) to earn the team's final five points.

On the first day of competition on Thursday, Moravian was sixth of 25 teams that had scored points. Freshman Gary Zack (Mountain Top, PA/Crestwood HS) scored eight of Moravian's points with a runner-up finish in the javelin throw with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying throw of 60.63 meters (198 feet, 11 inches). Zack's throw moves him to 16th in the nation this spring and on the edge of qualifying for next week's NCAA Division III National Championships.

The Greyhounds other 4.5 points came in the pole vault competition. Senior Alan Woods (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cedar Cliff HS) tied for fifth at a height of 4.67 meters (15 feet, 3 3/4 inches) to earn 3.5 points while freshman Timothy Layng (Canton, PA/Canton HS) cleared the same height by in more attempts to take eighth place and earn one point. In the only other finals event on the first day of competition for the Greyhounds, Maginnis finished 12th in the hammer throw with a toss of 48.34 meters (158 feet, seven inches).

In preliminary races, the Greyhounds moved three of four competitors onto the finals. In the 100-meter dash, Woodruff posted the top time in the preliminaries with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 10.64 seconds while Shaffer advanced with a time of 10.97 seconds, which was the fourth fastest time but placed him sixth as the four heat winners earned the top four spots in the finals. Tussey posted the best time of the day in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.22 seconds to advance to the final while Blenk was 24th in 16.68 seconds.

The Moravian women, which went back-and-forth with MIT throughout the second day of competition for the team lead, took control during the 200-meter dash as the Greyhounds had three competitors earn a total of 16 points in the race. Sophomore Sydni Wisniewski (Orlando, FL/Winter Park HS) was the runner-up in a time of 25.46 seconds to earn eight points while junior Symonne Scott (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro HS) was third in 25.51 seconds to garner six points and junior Jessica Posimo (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil Academy) was seventh in a time of 25.91 seconds to earn two points. The trio teamed with junior Rachel Beck (Churchville, PA/Council Rock South HS) for a runner-up finish in the 4x100-meter relay with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 48.02 seconds. The quartet improved its standing for next week's NCAA Division III National Championships to the ninth best time in the country this year.

Wisniewski set a school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.65 seconds, placing third to earn six points. Wisniewski and Posimo teamed with freshmen Hailey Neff (Lehighton, PA/Lehighton HS) and Kristina Ruggiero (Cedar Grove, NJ/Cedar Grove HS) to post a school record time of 3:59.29 in the 4x400-meter relay in the final event of the meet, placing sixth to earn the final three points of the championship.

Posimo took third in the 100-meter hurdles in an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time of 14.91 seconds to earn Moravian six points while Scott took fifth in the 100-meter dash in 12.73 seconds to earn four points. Neff just missed scoring points, placing ninth in the 800-meter run in 2:17.33.

In the field events on the second day of competition, Posimo placed third in the long jump with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying distance of 5.53 meters (18 feet, 1 3/4 inches) to garner six points while Scott was fifth at 5.38 meters (17 feet, eight inches) to earn four more points. Freshman Brittany Moses (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge HS) finished 14th in the discus throw with a toss of 35.55 meters (116 feet, eight inches) while junior Rachel Riggs (Gettysburg, PA/Gettysburg HS) was 16th in the triple jump with a distance of 10.72 meters (35 feet, two inches).

On the first day of competition for the women, the Greyhounds were fourth of the 24 teams that had scored a point. Junior Anna Heim (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown HS) earned an ECAC individual championship in the pole vault by becoming the first female in Moravian history to clear 4.00 meters. Heim cleared an NCAA Division III automatic qualifying height of 4.02 meters (13 feet, 2 1/4 inches) to earn ten points for the Greyhounds and to head into next week's NCAA Division III National Championships tied for first in the nation.

The Greyhounds would earn another point in the pole vault with senior Christine Kihm (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown HS) clearing 3.45 meters (11 feet, 3 3/4 inches) while the final three points of the first day came from junior Flora Robertson (Hawley, PA/East Stroudsburg North HS), who placed sixth in the hammer throw with an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying and school record toss of 48.31 meters (158 feet, six inches), which improves her to 25th in the nation this season. In the other finals event on the first day for Moravian, sophomore Mary King (Paramus, NJ/Paramus HS) placed 12th in the javelin throw with a toss of 34.58 meters (113 feet, five inches) while sophomore Kaleen Holden (Scranton, PA/Bishop Hoban HS) was 15th at 33.62 meters (110 feet, four inches).

In preliminary races, the Greyhounds moved two of three competitors onto the finals. In the 100-meter dash, Scott was second in her heat and placed eighth overall for the final spot in the championship race with a time of 13.10 seconds. Posimo also advanced to the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, winning her heat in a time of 16.06 seconds. Posimo had the seventh best time of the preliminaries but was fourth thanks to winning her heat. Sophomore Shannon McEvoy (Lafayette, NJ/High Point Regional HS) took 14th in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.50 seconds.

Story provided by Moravian Sports Information