HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Centennial Conference outdoor track and field season will come to an end this weekend as Muhlenberg College will host the 2015 championship meet at Scotty Wood Stadium.
The Fords will return two individual champions from last year's outdoor race. Senior Gibby Graves was the long jump and triple jump winner along with placing second in the high jump. With that, Graves was named Outstanding Field Performer of the meet. Junior Jonathan Yellets also nabbed the 400m crown.
Other stellar performances include junior Charlie Marquardt, who was All-Centennial Conference second team in the 1,500m and All-CC honorable mention in the 800m. The Fords have four returners that placed in the top 17 in the 5,000m last season. Senior David Roza was sixth while senior Joel Christian (12th) and junior Sam Fujimori (13th) were just outside the top 10 and sophomore Jimmy Gorman was 17th. Christian placed 10th in the 10,000m and junior Dylan Verner-Crist was 11th.
Roza started the season off with a fantastic run at the Philadelphia College Classic (Mar. 21) in the 5,000m. The senior's time (14:32.79) is the 14th fastest time in Division III. Senior John Curry won the first individual title for Haverford with his 3,000m steeplechase victory at the Danny Curran Invitational (Mar. 28). Marquardt's win in the 5,000m race at the Sam Howell Invitational (Apr. 3) gave him the sixth quickest time (14:21.63) in Division III.
At the Larry Ellis Invitational (Apr. 17), three runners registered top 10 times in the nation. Marquardt had the fastest Division III time in the 1,500m (3:45.71) while Roza has the second speediest time in the 3,000m steeplechase (9:05.90) and senior Joel Christian had the 10th best time (30:33.30) in the 5,000m.
For the 1,500m, Haverford had four runners in the top 11 among Centennial Conference teams. Freshman Henry Woods (4:00.73), Roza (4:02.09) and Fujimori (4:04.14) had top times this year. Woods also has one of the best 5,000m times (15:08.85) among conference runners.
Junior Dorvil Gabriel will look for a medal spot in the 110m hurdles after recording a top five time (16:41) at the TCNJ Invitational (Apr. 24). Gabriel also has a top 10 time in the 400m hurdles (58.36) among conference foes.
The 3,000m steeplechase is a strength for the Fords with five participants among the top 10 Centennial Conference times. Junior Nick Gandolfo-Lucia won the steeplechase event (9:45.61) at the Bill Butler Invite (Apr. 10) while senior Soren Rasmussen (10:07.32) and sophomore Michael Brier (10:14) also had times among the best in the conference.
Graves will look to defend his high jump title after securing the best jump in the conference this season at the Widener Invitational (2.02m) (Apr. 18). Graves won the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the Haverford Mid-Week (Apr. 22) while scoring individual titles in the high jump at the Widener Invitational and Muhlenberg Spring Invitational (Apr. 4) during the spring season.
Head coach Tom Donnelly's squad finished second at last year's outdoor conference meet after winning the conference titles in 2012 and 2013. The Fords have won the outdoor track and field championships 18 of the 21 seasons that the Centennial Conference has had the event.