HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's outdoor track and field squad will get the spring season started at the Danny Curran Invitational this weekend, with two days of competition on Friday and Saturday. The meet is hosted by Widener. The action begins at 5 p.m. on Friday with the 5,000 meters.
The Fords were picked second in the Centennial Conference preseason poll, with 57 overall voting points and one first place vote. Johns Hopkins, the defending Conference Champion, was picked to repeat with 64 total voting points and the remaining nine first place votes.
Haverford's success at the outdoor meet hinges largely on the distance contingent as defending indoor 3,000 meter national champion Dylan Gearinger figures to be a top contender to repeat his Centennial Conference Championship in the outdoor 10,000 meter. Greg Morgan, Henry Woods and Graham Peet also all return from All-Conference performances a season ago.
Last season, Haverford sent Henry Woods and Greg Morgan to the national championships in Geneva, Ohio. Woods finished 11th in the nation in the 5,000 meter while Morgan was 12th in the 1,500 meter run. Haverford qualified at least one runner for the national championship meet for the 32nd consecutive season.
Peet has distinguished himself as one of the best steeplechase athletes in the conference, taking home second in the discipline a season ago. Liam Lynch figures to also contend for a top scoring performance at the outdoor meet after capturing the indoor 400 meter crown for the third straight season. Lynch finished third in the outdoor 400 meter distance at last year's conference championships in Baltimore. The Fords figure to have success in the relay events, with Lynch, Scott Pollara and Zach Oji all upperclassmen with signficant experience in the disciplines.
Thrower Josiah Legaspi returns for his senior season looking to take aim at the school record in the shot put while jumpers Greg Van Aken, Silvan Sooksatan, Rohan Shukla, Keiran Marrett-Hitch, Cameron Albrecht, Jack Brower and Chris Glazer all return from a solid indoor season.
Haverford will look to break into the top 10 in the nation at the national meet this summer. The Fords last finished in the top 10 with a sixth place finish in 2014. The Fords also had five All-America finishers en route to an eighth place finish in 2013.
The route to Nationals will take Haverford to Widener on multiple occasions. In addition to the Danny Curran meet, Haverford is also scheduled to compete at the Chester Quarry Classic (Apr. 14) and Widener Invitational (Apr. 20-21).
Haverford will also make multiple trips to Princeton for the Sam Howell (Apr. 6) and Larry Ellis Invitationals (Apr. 20). Those meets are both Friday night events. During the month of April the team will add a trek to West Chester for the Bill Butler Invitational on Saturday, April 7. The Fords could also send individuals to compete at the Penn Relays which are set for Thursday, April 26 through Saturday, April 28.
The lone home meet for the Fords will be on Monday, April 23 as the Haverford Invitational returns to Johnson Track and the state-of-the-art throwing center. The Centennial Conference Championships are set for Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6 at Ursinus.