HAVERFORD, Pa. - Five members of the Haverford College men's track and field team will participate in the 2014 NCAA Division III Championships at Ohio Wesleyan University from Thursday, May 22 through Saturday, May 24.
The nation's top 22 performers in each event qualified for the championships and will compete at Selby Stadium and the George Gauthier Track in Delaware, Ohio.
Senior Christopher Stadler is the lone Ford that will compete in two events and is seeded first in the 5,000-meter run. Stadler's best run of the season ended in a time of 14 minutes, 1.62 seconds and is 3.44 seconds faster than John Crain from North Central University who is seeded second.
Stadler will also run in the 10,000-meter race. The senior is seeded seventh at 30:06.33 and only 18 seconds separates him from the second-fastest time in the country this season.
The 3,000-meter steeplechase is the only event that will host multiple Haverford athletes. Haverford College and Centennial Conference record holder Avi Bregman is the second seed in the event with his school and league-best time of 8:51.30. The senior runner's top finish is 3.36 seconds slower than Michael LeDuc from Connecticut College who ran the fastest time in the nation this year. David Roza is seeded 10th after running the event in 9:05.46 earlier in the season.
Haverford's Charlie Marquardt ran the 1,500-meter run in 3:46.64 a week ago and is just 1.45 seconds away from the fastest time in the country this season. Marquardt is seeded second in the event and will be in the running for a national title this weekend.
The Fords' lone performer on the field side is junior Gibby Graves. The Centennial Conference Most Outstanding Field Performer is seeded 16th in the long jump with his best leap of 7.16 meters (23 feet, 6 inches). Graves is just 3.5 inches away from the eighth-best result in the event.
The 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500-meter run will have qualifying events on Thursday, May 22 and the finals will take place on Sunday, May 24. The 10,000 and 5,000 finals will take place on Thursday and Sunday, respectively. The long jump finals will occur on Thursday.
For full coverage of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships click here.