Centennial Conference Championship Central
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's outdoor track and field team is set to return to the Centennial Conference championships this weekend. The conference meet is held at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. and begins on Friday, continuing through the weekend. Haverford finished in second place last season, bested only by Johns Hopkins.
The Fords return one first place competitor from last season's conference meet (senior Charlie Marquardt), as well as a number of top-ten finishers. Marquardt enters the weekend as the top seed in the 800m run, the 1,500m run, and the 5,000 meters. The Haverford senior won two of the three events last year, taking the 800m (1:52.29) and the 1,500m (3:55.70). He's considered the runaway favorite in the 5,000m this year, seeded over 11 seconds faster than the second fastest runner from the season.
The 5,000 meters is one of Haverford's strongest events as the school also features seeds three, five, and six with Henry Woods, Dylan Verner-Crist, and Graham Peet respectively. Woods will also join Marquardt in the 1,500 meters.
Haverford is also expected to score big points in the 10,000 meter run, headlined by top three seeds of Dylan Verner-Crist, Sam Fujimori, and Charlie Hale.
The 3,000 meter steeplechase, which was won last year by graduated Haverford senior David Roza, features four Fords seeded in the top 10. Peet will be joined by James Stadler, Lincoln Satterthwaite, and Chris Galdolfo-Lucia.
Jonathan Yellets and Liam Lynch headline the short distance for Haverford. Yellets will be competing as the sixth seeded runner in the 200 meters with Lynch the seventh. In the 400 meters, Lynch is the event favorite with Yellets garnering the second seed.
Senior Jeffrey Ainsley will make a return to the conference event as he competes as Haverford's top seed in the high jump, the long jump, and both the 110m and 400m hurdles. Ainsley, a senior, was the Centennial Conference champion of the 110 hurdles in 2014. Dorvil Gabriel will join Ainsley in the high jump and both hurdles, and he'll also be competing in the triple jump. Gabriel finished fifth in last year's 110m hurdles and seventh in the 400m hurdles.
In the shot put and discus, Josiah Legaspi and Rob Parry will be the top Haverford students to compete. Freshman Greg Van Aken will make his conference championship debut as the seventh seed of the pole vault.