Centennial Conference Preseason Poll
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's outdoor track and field team, will get its spring season underway at the Golden Rams Invitational, hosted by West Chester University on Saturday.
The meet is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday afternoon. Following a second place finish at the Centennial Conference Indoor Championships last month, the Fords are poised for an outdoor crown.
Haverford was picked second in the Centennial Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, with 57 voting points including one first place tally. Defending champion Johns Hopkins was tabbed as the preseason favorite, picking up 64 voting points and the other eight first place tallies. Swarthmore is third (45), Muhlenberg was slated four (42) and Dickinson is picked fifth (35).
The poll rounds out with Gettysburg in sixth position (29), Franklin & Marshall in seventh (24), Ursinus in eighth and McDaniel in ninth (9).
The Fords' 174 points scored at last season's Centennial Conference Championship was the team's highest total since the 2013 championship outdoor season. Haverford returns All-Region performer Graham Peet (steeplechase) and All-Conference honorees Jimmy Gorman (10,000m) and Henry Woods (5000m) from a season ago with a strong distance contingent also waiting in the wings.
The indoor season saw numerous accolades for Haverford, including All-Mideast region designation for Jimmy Gorman (5000m), Greg Morgan (mile), Graham Peet (5000m) and Henry Woods (3000m). The DMR team of Peter Kurtz, Liam Lynch, Morgan and Woods also was named All-Region.
Woods, Peet, Gorman and Morgan all added All-Region honors in the indoor track season to All-Region finishes during the cross country season and will look to complete the trifecta in the outdoor campaign.
Haverford will hope to build on an indoor season that saw the emergence of a talented and large sophomore class that includes Kurtz, Lynch, Morgan, Peet, All-Centennial performers Dylan Gearinger (3000m), Chris Goings (800m), Scott Pollara and Zach Oji (4x200 meter relay).
In field events, Josiah Legaspi (weight throw, shot put) and Greg Van Aken (pole vault) each set personal bests and climbed the Haverford record books during the indoor season.
The Haverford squad will host the Haverford Invitational on Johnson Track on Tuesday, April 25 at 4:30 p.m. The meet is the the last for the Fords before the Centennial Championships which will be held at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.
Meets dot the entirety of the April landscape with each weekend of the month featuring action. The NCAA Championships are slated for Geneva, Ohio and are hosted by University of Mount Union from May 25-27.