Full Centennial Conference Preseason Poll Release
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's outdoor track & field team has been picked to finish second in the Centennial Conference preseason coaches' poll, picking up 57 overall voting points, in addition to one first place tally. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own squads in the annual preseason prognostication. Haverford has finished first or second at each of the Centennial Conference Outdoor Championships, taking home its most recent team title during the 2013 season.
Defending conference champion Johns Hopkins was the pick to again hoist the Centennial Conference trophy, picking up 64 voting points and eight first place votes. Swarthmore (50 points), Dickinson (43 points), Ursinus (34 points), Gettysburg (26 points), McDaniel (24 points), Muhlenberg (18 points), and Franklin & Marshall (8 points) rounded out the poll in the third through 10th spots, respectively.
More success on a national stage is predicted for the Fords, as Haverford ranks 10th in the USTFCCCA Division III Preseason National Ratings Index. Last outdoor season, seniors Graham Peet (steeplechase) and Greg Morgan (1,500 meters) both earned All-America honors. Senior Liam Lynch also qualified for the national championships in the 800 meters.
Morgan was the standout for the Fords in the indoor season, capturing the 3,000-meter national championship while also being named the USTFCCCA Mideast Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and the Centennial Conference Outstanding Indoor Track Performer. In total, Haverford had four individual event champions at the indoor meet at Franklin & Marshall, with Morgan (mile), Peet (3,000 meters; 5,000 meters) and Lynch (400 meters) all taking home gold. The men's DMR squad of seniors Chris Goings, Ian Woodhouse, Morgan, and junior Hiroshi Kawakatsu also claimed the event title in Lancaster.
The Fords open up the 2019 outdoor season with the Danny Curran Invitational on the campus of Widener University. The two-day meet begins on Friday, March 29, and continues on Saturday, March 30.