HAVERFORD, PA. -- The Haverford College men's indoor track and field team has been ranked No. 12 in the sixth weekly U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Indoor Track and Field computer rankings.
In this week's poll, the Fords collected 65.74 points. Haverford has hung around the Nos. 10-16 range all season. It began the season as the No. 16 team, climbed up to No. 15 where it held for two weeks before landing at No. 14 two weeks ago, and then jumped into the top 10 last week.
The men's track team posted an impressive team performance last weekend, finishing in second place at the Centennial Conference Championship. The Fords gathered 184 points over the weekend, falling just behind Johns Hopkins' 195 but well ahead of third-place Ursinus' 66. Haverford placed first in seven out of 17 events in the two-day event. No other school won more than three.
Haverford senior Charlie Marquardt finished atop the leaderboard in both the mile run (4:18.20) and in the 3,000 meters (8:38.69). Freshman Liam Lynch took home the gold in the 400 meter dash after qualifying as the third seed. Lynch's final time was 49.85 seconds, a new personal best and tops in the Centennial Conference this season. Haverford senior Jeffrey Ainsley placed first in the 60 meter hurdles (8.37 seconds). Last season, he set the conference record in the same event in 8.33 seconds. Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia took home the gold in the 5,000 meter distance (15:22.58).
Haverford took first place in two out of three relays as the 4x200 team (Lynch, Jonathan Yellets, Alex Frost, and Ainsley) placed first with a time of 1:32.43 after qualifying as the top seed during the season. That time marked the fastest in the conference this season, trumping the school's previous season-best set at the Keogh Invitational. The Fords also won the event last year. In the 4x400, the team (Yellets, Frost, Lynch, and Dorvil Gabriel) finished first (3:26.26), marking Haverford's first win in the event since 2005.
For those who qualify, the Haverford men's track & field team will next be seen in NCAA Championship in Grinell, Iowa on Friday, March 11-12.