GENEVA, Ohio - On the first day of the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute, Haverford junior Jamie Moreland earned direct qualification to the finals of the men's 1,500 meters, winning the first of two preliminary heats in a time of 3:49.89. The mark was the fastest qualifying time of the prelims.

Content to let the race play out before him, Moreland mostly kept towards the back of the pack before making a big kick on the final lap to overtake the entire field and sprint to victory, finishing just over a second ahead of Ryan Harvey of Loras and Justin Krause of Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

Joining Moreland in Saturday's final will be Sam Verkerke of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Ryan Harvey of Loras, Sam Llaneza of Lynchburg, Justin Krause of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Steven Potter of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Scott Sikorski of Rochester, Daniel Sealand of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Jacob Ridderhoff of Washington (Mo.), Michael Madoch of Wisconsin- LaCrosse, Cal Yackin of Otterbein, and Alexi Seletskiy of Carnegie Mellon. The top four seeds entering the competition were eliminated following the preliminary heats. 

Haverford has had 28 All-Americans in the 1,500-meter event and four national champions. Moreland will look to be the first Haverford runner to top the national podium in the 1,500 meters since Karl Paranya in 1997.

The 1,500-meter final will begin at 12:35 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon (May 28) and live video and live timing are available via NCAA.com