HAVERFORD, Pa. - The second regular season U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) computer rankings came out and the Haverford College men's indoor track and field team improved to eighth. The Fords were ranked 10th last week.
In Haverford's meet at the Tufts Stampede, it was a banner day all around for head coach Tom Donnelly's squad. Junior Charlie Marquardt won the 3000m event, 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.
With his record-breaking run, Marquardt was named the USTFCCCA Division III National Men's Athlete of the Week and the Centennial Conference Runner of the Week. He became the third Fords' athelete to win the weekly conference honor (Roza, Ainsley)
Also in the Tufts Stampede, Haverford had four runners among the top nine in the 5000m highlighted by senior David Roza's winning time (14:48.22). Senior Joel Christian was second (14:51.88), sophomore Jimmy Gorman was eighth (15:26.06) and junior Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia was ninth (15:27.30).
Freshman Henry Woods set a season best (4:21.34), tallying a third place finish among 38 runners. Senior Soren Rasmussen just missed out on winning the 800m event, placing second. His 1:57.96 was eighth-tenths of a second slower than the first place runner. The Fords had three others runners among the top eight. Sixth place finisher, senior Ryan Gooding, tallied his best time ever with a 1:59.03. Senior Chris Gardner was seventh while sophomore Julian Schneider was eighth.
Two Fords placed in the top seven in the 200m dash. Junior Jonathan Yellets had the fourth quickest time (23.52) while senior Sam Callon was seventh (23.70). Junior Dorvil Gabriel finished in the top half of the field in the 22nd position (24.36) while sophomore Alex Frost was 25th (24.52) and freshman Daniel Sax scurried to the 27th position (24.54).
Junior Jeffrey Ainsley won the 60m hurdles event (8.53) and the high jump (1.91m) in the heptathlon while placing second in the shot put (10.57m) and third in the long jump (6.10m).
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).