CANTON, N.Y. – Junior Charlie Marquardt of the Haverford College men's outdoor track and field team won his preliminary heat (3:53.40) to qualify for the finals of the 1,500m event at the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships hosted by St. Lawrence University today.
Marquardt, the USTFCCCA Mideast Region Track Athlete of the Year, won his preliminary heat by just under one second and finished with the top time among the 20 runners in the event. The top four times in each of the two heats along with the top four remaining times will meet in the 1,500m final on Saturday at 1:40 p.m.
The junior is looking for his second individual All-American certificate and third overall in his career. Marquardt ran to a fifth place finish in the 3,000m at the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Track Championships. The reigning USTFCCCA Division III National Athlete of the Week also nabbed an All-American accolade as the opening leg in the Fords' runner-up distance medley relay at the 2013 NCAA Divison III Indoor Track Championships.
Senior David Roza ran in the 3,000m steeplechase preliminaries and finished with the 15th quickest time (9:24.02). Roza just missed qualifying for the final on Saturday as the top 14 times among the two heats moved on. The senior will wrap up his running career at Haverford with six All-Centennial Conference honors among the track and cross country seasons. In the 10,000m final, senior Joel Christian crossed the finish line in the 13th position (31:41.66). The senior's running career as a Ford will end with four All-Centennial Conference awards.
Live stats and video will be available for the 1,500m national championship race on Saturday in the links above. Marquardt will look to join a long list of Haverford 1,500m All-Americans as Kevin Foley '83 (1980-83), Liam O'Neill '86 (1986), Matt Leighninger '92 (1990-92), Aaron Curry '94 (1993-94), Karl Paranya '97 (1995-97), Aryn Davis '97 (1997), Ntobeko Ntusi (1998), Jason Bernstein '01 (1999, 2001), Bobby Cannon '08 (2005), Sam Dalke '07 (2006), Ivo Milic-Strkalj '13 (2010), Tim Schoch (2011-12), Eric Arnold '12 (2011) and Jordan Schilit '13 (2003) have reached All-American status in the event.