Two Individual Titles Highlight CUA's Strong Men's and Women's Track Performance at Conference Championship Meet

Two Individual Titles Highlight CUA's Strong Men's and Women's Track Performance at Conference Championship Meet

3/3/2009

MADISON, N.J.-- Kelly Carioto and Michael Doster both walked away from the 2008-09 Landmark Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship Meet with individual titles.

One team defended its title and another claimed the first conference title in program history as the Moravian College women and Susquehanna University men earned team championships at the Landmark Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa.

Led by Female Track Athlete of the Year Sydni Wisniewski and Female Field Athlete of the Year Jessica Posimo the Moravian women rolled to the team title with 245 points. Susquehanna was second with 115, followed by Juniata College with 91. The Catholic University of America was fourth with 51 points while Goucher College and the United States Merchant Marine Academy were fifth and sixth with 18 and one point respectively.

The Susquehanna men got two individual event wins apiece from Male Track Athlete of the Year Joe Zamadics and Male Rookie of the Year Graham Huber to help pile up 206 points, 37 points clear of second place Moravian. Juniata was third with 68 points, followed by Catholic in fourth with 53. USMMA captured 19 points for fifth place and Goucher finished sixth with seven points.

Also earning post-meet individual awards was Hailey Neff of Moravian who was named the Female Rookie of the Year, and Moravian's Blair Maginnis who claimed Male Field Athlete of The Year honors. In addition, Susquehanna Head Coach Marty Owens and his staff were named the Male Coaching Staff of the Year while Moravian Head Coach Walt Wandall and his assistants earned that honor on the women's side.

In the women's competition Moravian led from the start and never looked back as the team won 11 of the 15 individual events and also won a pair of relays. Posimo captured three victories on the day placing first in the long jump with a mark of 5.31 meters, winning the triple jump in 11.11 meters and running a time of 8.50, which was an NCAA provisional qualifying time, to win the 55-meter hurdles. Wisniewski crossed the line first in the 400 meter dash in 59.48 and added a win in the 200 with a time of 25.99.

Also earning wins on the track for Moravian were Neff who ran 2:25.73 to win the 800 and Rachel Beck who won the 55-meter dash in a time of 7.42. In the field events Anna Heim improved on her NCAA provisional mark by winning the pole vault by clearing 3.70 meters and Flora Robertston gave the Greyhounds another win with a throw of 14.29 meters to win the weight throw.

Susquehanna's Alycia Woodruff was the only other female multi-event winner on the day as she ran 5:17.85 to win the mile and 19:06.66 to win the 5,000. Other winners on the women's side were Catholic's Kelly Carioto who posted a toss of 11.66 to win the shot put and Juniata's Kelsey Buffenmyer who cleared 1.52 to win the high jump.

Moravian also won a pair of relays starting with the 4x200 as Beck and Wisniewski were joined by Symonne Scott and Rachel Riggs to post a winning time of 1:45.17. The 4x800 team of Neff, Wisniewski, Brooke DiNitzio and Kristin Ruggiero won the event with a time of 10:03.20. Catholic's Distance Medley Relay quartet of Jenna Hackett, Suzanna Dawyot, Aubrey Koch and Mary Shashasty opened the track events with a victory in a time of 13:16.25. Juniata's 4x400 relay then capped the competition with the group of Melissa Johnson, Courtney DeGemmis, Rebecca Shuke and Amy Reynolds running a winning time of 4:15.45

On the men's side the freshmen Zamadics and Huber each posted two of Susquehanna's six individual wins on the day. Huber claimed the high jump in an NCAA provisional mark of 2.05 and also the triple jump in 13.37 meters. Zamadics won the mile in a time of 4:25.70 and came back to win the 800 by running 1:38.57.

Also earning individual titles for the Crusaders were Paul Thistle who ran to victory in the 5,000 with a time of 15:58.94 and Josh Simpson whose time of 6.45 in the 55-meter dash is an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

Maginnis was the only other multi-event winner on the men's side as he swept the two throwing events. His best toss of 15.54 to win the shot put is an NCAA provisional mark and he also won the weight throw with a best effort of 15.62. His teammate Alan Woods was the winner in the pole vault on the day by clearing 4.40 meters. The other field winner was Juniata's Patrick Filamor who won the long jump with a leap of 6.77 meters.

On the track Moravian picked up wins in the 200 and 400 with Eric Woodruff winning the 200 in 22.44 and Warner Jones carrying the 400 with a time of 51.01. The other track individual win went to Michael Doster of Catholic who bested the field in the 55-meter hurdles by running a time of 8.14.

Moravian won three of the four relays on the men's side, claiming the 4x200 the 4x400 and the 4x800. The quartet of Woodruff, Robert Shafer, Kyle D'Angelo and Jones ran a time of 1:32.24 to win the 4x200. Jones and Woodruff were then joined by Steve Ambrosi and Tim Murphy to win the 4x400 in a time of 3:30.16. Murphy was also a part of the winning 4x800 team which also featured Connor Skutches, Steve Parisi and Jacob Tazik and ran a winning time of 8:11.64. Juniata's Distance Medley team claimed the other relay as Trip Rudolph, Nevin Diehl, Sam Williams and Ceth Parker ran a winning time of 10:48.37.

Several Landmark teams and athletes will now move on to compete at both the ECAC Division III and NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Courtesy: Landmark Conference Office