COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The opening day of the three-day Centennial Conference outdoor track & field championship got off to a good start for Haverford College's men's team as the Fords nabbed a 1-2 finish in the 10,000-meter run and a second place in the pole vault to grab the early lead in the team race.
Teammates Christopher Stadler and Peter Kissin ran away from the field in the 10,000 to steal the first two spots for the Fords. Stadler posted a winning time of 31 minutes, 7.49 seconds with Kissin in the runner-up spot, less than a second behind. The pair were ahead of the third-place finisher by 10 seconds.
Adding points for Haverford in the championship meet's longest event were Brian Sokas in fourth place and Joel Christian in eighth place.
Earlier in the day the Fords picked up their initial points in the team race with Michael Iannacone's second-place finish in the pole vault. Both Iannacone and Muhlenberg College's Ryan Hellings finished with the same height, 4.05 meters (13 feet, 3.5 inches), but Hellings was awarded first place after reaching the height with fewer misses.
Friday's results moved Haverford into the lead within the team race with 32 points. Johns Hopkins University sits in second with 28 points and Muhlenberg is third with 10.
The second day of competition begins on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. with the final five events of the decathlon. The event list continues at noon with the start of the high jump as well as the first individual track event of the day, the 3,000m steeplechase. The Fords have the defending champions returning in the high jump, Gibby Graves, and steeplechase, Avi Bregman.