Landmark Competitors Perform Well At NCAA Championships

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After three days of competition at the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, four members of Landmark Conference teams claimed All-America honors with top-8 individual finishes at the meet hosted by hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

Moravian College produced two All-American's on the men's and women's side, and ultimately finished tied for 20th in the women's competition and 21st in the men's team standings. Goucher College, Juniata College and Susquehanna University also had athletes competing at the meet.

Senior Abby Schaffer earned All-America honors for a second time this season and fourth time in her two years at Moravian College while junior Micah Leonard earned All-America accolades for the fourth time in her career to lead the Greyhounds women's squad. The Greyhounds scored ten points to finish in a tie for 20th of 80 teams that earned points in the three-day meet. Wartburg (Iowa) College won the team title with 129 points.

Moravian picked up eight points in the pole vault with Schaffer's runner-up vault of 4.15 meters (13 feet, 7 ¼ inches), which was just two inches shy of senior Catherine Street from Linfield (Ore.) College winning height of 4.20 meters (13 feet, 9 ¼ inches), which broke Schaffer's meet record. Schaffer entered as the defending champion in the event with a meet record last year of 4.14 meters and had the top vault of the year and in NCAA Division III history at 4.22 meters (13 feet, ten inches). Schaffer, who was the runner-up to Street for the second time this season in the pole vault and the third time in her college career, won a pair of national titles in the pole vault in 2011 with meet records in both indoors and outdoors.

Leonard set the school record and placed seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 11.95 meters (39 feet, 2 ½ inches), earning Moravian's other two team points. Leonard's jump came on her sixth and final attempt of the meet. She had made the final nine with a leap of 11.87 meters (38 feet, 11 ½ inches) on the second attempt of her three preliminary jumps. Melissa Norville from Illinois College won the event at 12.58 meters (41 feet, 3 ¼ inches). Leonard, a four-time All-American, earned her first All-America honor at the outdoor championship and her second in the triple jump to go with two in the long jump indoors.

Goucher freshman Destiny Phillips was the other performer in action over the weekend as she finished in 20th-place in the long jump competition at the meet. The freshman achieved a distance of 5.40 meters (17' 18 3/4") on her first attempt in the opening round, during which all 22 entrants could make up to three attempts. When she wasn't able to improve her distance on either of her next two attempts, Phillips essentially came up 14 inches shy of being one of the nine competitors to advance to the finals.

On the men's side Moravian senior Gary Zack earned All-America honors for a second straight year while senior Timothy Layng was an All-American in the pole vault for the second time this season. The Greyhounds scored 13 points to finish 21st of 84 teams that earned points in the three-day meet.  McMurray (Texas) University won the team title with 66 points.

Moravian picked up eight points in the javelin with Zack's runner-up throw of 67.14 meters (220 feet, three inches), which was just two inches shy of junior Tim Van liew from Rutgers-Camden winning toss of 67.19 meters (220 feet, five inches). Zack entered as the defending champion in the event and had the top throw of the year just over 69 meters. Greyhounds sophomore Timothy Lorah made the finals as well in his first trip to the national meet. Lorah finished ninth in the even with a toss of 62.15 meters (203 feet, 11 inches). Juniata and Susquehanna also had athletes competing in the javelin. senior Jack Iosue (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) threw the javelin 200' 11" to place 10th. Iosue entered the national meet seeded 19th in the all of Division III with a mark of 199' 6", and his stellar national meet performance clinched the third spot on Juniata's Top 5 All-Time javelin leaders list, as he is just the third man in Juniata history to ever reach the 200 foot mark. Susquehanna freshman thrower Jared Minori (Tyrone, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) earned 13th overall in the javelin. Minori finished with a mark of 194-02 (59.19). Overall the Landmark had four throwers in the top 13 of the event.

Layng tied his own school record of 5.00 meters (16 feet, 4 ¾ inches) to finish fourth in the pole vault to earn the Greyhounds there other five points. Layng, who previously cleared five meters back on April 14th, cleared his opening height of 4.75 meters and then cleared the next three heights to finish his career as a two-time All-American. Peter Geraghty of North Central College won the pole vault at 5.40 meters (17 feet, 8 ½ inches).

Earlier in the meet Moravian senior Nicco Dalpiaz placed 12th of 20 competitors after the two-day decathlon Dalpiaz scored a career high 6,512 points in the decathlon with 3,116 points on Friday in the final five events after being in 11th place with 3,396 points on the opening day. Dalpiaz missed All-American honors by 88 points Ethan Miller from Central (Iowa) College won the event with 7,017. Dalpiaz opened the second day of the event with a career best time of 15.13 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles to earn 834 points, and he picked up another 393 points with a distance of 26.33 meters (86 feet, four inches) in the discus. Dalpaiz then scored 790 points with a height of 4.60 meters (15 feet, one inch) in the pole vault before picking up 495 points in the javelin with a career best toss of 42.95 meters (140 feet, 11 inches). Dalpiaz finished the second day of competition with a time of 4:50.78 in the 1,500-meter run to earn 614 points as he completed the third decathlon of his career, all since April 12 this spring.

This marks the second-consecutive year the Landmark has had four athletes earn All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Click here for complete results from the NCAA Championships

Story provided by Goucher, Juniata, Moravian, & Susquehanna Sports Information