ALLENTOWN, Pa. – At the end of the second day of action at the Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the Haverford College men's track & field team sits in third place overall with 51.5 total scoring points. Haverford won an event title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a race that had a bevy of scorers for the Fords. Haverford also finished second in the 4x800 meter relay. In addition to those medal finishes, the Fords also saw two runners move on to Sunday finals after solid showings in preliminary action on Saturday.
Seniors Ryan Herlihy and Graham Peet finished in tandem in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Herlihy grabbing the event title in 9:18.13, while Peet finished just a tenth of a second behind in 9:18.23. The gold and silver performances headlined the scoring in the event, as Haverford also got a scoring finish from sophomore Jack Hunter, who crossed in sixth (9:51.59) and first-year Peter Buckley, who finished in eighth overall (9:59.42). First-year Ryan O'Donnell was just outside the scoring performances in 12th, crossing in 10:42.93.
The 4x800 meter relay squad of Ian Woodhouse, Chris Goings, Hiroshi Kawakatsu, and Greg Morgan finished second in 7:47.98, scoring a vital eight points towards the Haverford ledger. That performance was also just narrowly off the top 10 performances in program history.
In the high jump, sophomore Silvan Sooksatan posted a crucial scoring performance for the Fords, finishing in eighth with a mark of 1.8 meters (5'-10.75"). The showing was a new personal best for Sooksatan. Junior Cameron Albrecht finished 13th, clearing a height of 1.7 meters (5'-7"). Sooksatan also contested the long jump, finishing 15th, clearing a distance of 5.9 meters (19'-4.25").
In preliminaries for sprint events, senior Kofi Acheampong qualified for the 200-meter dash finals with a seventh-place showing in 23.10. The time is a new career best and Acheampong will contest the finals in that event at 2:10 p.m. on Sunday.
In the 400 meters, senior Liam Lynch also qualified for the final with a third-place finish in 50.36. The final for that event is slated for 12:50 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
With plenty of scoring opportunities still to come for the Fords on Sunday, the final day of action at the Track & Field championships will commence with the 4x100 meter relay slated for 11 a.m. Senior Greg Morgan tops the 1,500-meter seeds at 11:50 a.m. Haverford also expects to be a major factor in the 5,000 meters, which will begin at 3:05 p.m.