HAVERFORD, Pa. – Junior Charlie Marquardt of the Haverford College men's indoor track and field team was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) Division III National Men's Athlete of the Week.
He's the first Fords' athlete to win the award since Avi Bregman '14 during the outdoor season last year. The award, which has been given out every week since the 2013 indoor season, spotlights exceptional performances by student-athletes from around the nation. The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings.
Marquardt won the 3000m event in the Tufts Stampede last Saturday, finishing over 24 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. His 8:13.36 run is the best time among all Division III runners by six-tenths of a second this year and is the eighth fastest time in Division III history. It also set a new conference record, beating the previous one set by Haverford's Christopher Stadler '14 (8:16.63) at the 2014 NCAA Championship.
For his record-breaking run, the junior was named the Centennial Conference Track Athlete of the Week for the fourth time in his career. Marquardt has had an outstanding junior campaign. During the cross country season, he won three individual titles including the Centennial Conference Championship and Mideast Regional. He was also named Centennial Conference Runner of the Week twice and the conference Runner of the Year.
The Fords will now spend the month of February at home as it hosts the McElligott Invitational (Feb. 6-7), Keogh Invitational (Feb. 21) and the Centennial Conference Championships (Feb. 28-Mar. 1).