COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Haverford College's men's track & field team placed second at the Centennial Conference 2013 indoor track & field championship Saturday at Ursinus College, but junior Christopher Stadler was named the championship's track performer of the meet after winning the 3,000-meter run and finishing second in the 5,000.
Individual performances were only part of the Fords' chase for the title, captured by Johns Hopkins University which finished five points ahead of the Fords' 163 points, as Haverford won the 4x200 relay, finished second in the 4x800 and distance medley relays, and fifth in the 4x400.
The winning 4x200 foursome of Sam Callon, Jonathan Yellets, Gebby Keny and anchorman James Torain posted a time of 1 minute, 33.43 seconds which was knocking on the door of the meet record (1:31.07).
Torain also led off the 4x400 relay which included Yellets, Chris Gardner and Keny. Gardner ran on the winning DMR along with Greg Krause, David Colletta and Michael Riccio.
In addition to his efforts on the relay, Yellets earned the Fords points in the 400 with a sixth place finish.
Haverford entered Saturday's long event list after earning points Friday evening in the pole vault. Michael Iannacone finished third, clearing a height of 4.10 meters (13 feet, 5.25 inches), while the initial four events of the heptathlon were being competed.
In that heptathlon, Haverford's Jeffrey Ainsley nabbed the top spot after day one with three events to go on Saturday. He posted the fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles (8.91 seconds) to start the day, then finished in a tie for sixth in the pole vault and seventh in the 1,000-meter run to rack up a winning total of 4,245 points, out distancing the runner up by 193 points.
Ainsley had a busy Saturday, adding the high jump, long jump and 60m-hurdles to his day. He set a school record in the hurdles with a second-place time of 8.60 seconds, was second in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.
Andrew Bennett joined Ainsley with points in the jumps garnering a third-place in the triple jump and a seventh in the long jump.
Stadler's day was a long one opening up with his second-place finish in the 5,000, trailing only teammate Peter Kissin across the finish line. Stadler later went on to capture his own event title, winning the 3,000 in a time of 8:45.70 while Kissin finished third.
Haverford piled on the points in the 5,000, 3,000 and mile. In addition to Stadler and Kissin's points in the 5,000, Avi Bregman added fifth-place points and Joel Christian chipped in with an eighth-place finish. The 3,000 brought Brian Sokas (fourth) and David Roza (sixth) into the mix, while in the mile Haverford swept the first three places as Jordan Schilit (first, 4:19.65) led Charlie Marquardt (second) and Ivo Milic-Strkalj (third) across the line.
Marquardt and Milic-Strkalj were part of the second-place 4x800 relay with Jack McNeilly and Riccio.
Several Fords will attempt to better their positions within the national performance lists at the NCAA Division I and III Final Qualifier Meet at Ursinus on March 1. The NCAA Division III 2013 national championship meet, which should include a number of Fords, will be contested on March 8-9 in Naperville, Ill.
Final Point Totals
1) Johns Hopkins, 168
2) Haverford, 163
3) Ursinus, 94
3) Dickinson, 94
5) Gettysburg, 59
6) Muhlenberg, 54
7) Franklin & Marshall, 28
8) McDaniel, 22
9) Swarthmore, 19