WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Although some inclement weather altered Haverford's race plans on Saturday at the Bill Butler Invitational, the Fords posted some stellar performances at West Chester, highlighted by another event title from Jamie Moreland, who captured the 800 meters in a time that is among the nation's best this season. Moreland's win was one of three event titles for the Fords in what became a somewhat limited slate of action due to thunderstorms.
Moreland came into the race off the heels of an impressive 1,500 meter time last night at the stacked Larry Ellis meet at Princeton, and certainly showed that he still had a lot left in the tank on Saturday with a blazing fast 1:50.65 performance, a new personal best.
Moreland, the reigning CC Track Athlete of the Week, who continues his illustrious Haverford tenure into his final outdoor campaign, currently sits in fourth place overall on the national performance list with that mark. The time is also the fifth-best time in Haverford program history, and the best mark recorded in the month of April in program history. Micah Lachman also notched a top 10 finish for the Fords in the event, crossing in a tidy 1:58.88 while Michael Franco (2:00.95), Sam Diaz (2:01.08), and Nick Scardigno (2:02.67) also impressed for Haverford with top 25 finishes.
The 1,500-meter run was paced by Nico Tripeny, as the senior crossed in 3:58.58. The mark is a new career best for the senior standout. The time is also seventh-best so far this season in the Centennial Conference. Peter LaRochelle narrowly missed a sub-four performance for third place with a new career best (4:00.53), while Matthew Denton also scored for the Fords, crossing in sixth narrowly behind LaRochelle in 4:00.95, missing a PR by less than a second. Aaron Bratt (4:06.63) was just outside the scoring for the Fords, notching a 12th-place showing, and Miles Colescott (4:09.15) also logged a top-20 showing.
Seamus Flannery also grabbed an event crown for the Fords, finishing in 10:03.62 in the steeplechase to pick up 10 points for Haverford. The new career best in the event for Flannery came on the third consecutive weekend of improved times for the senior.
In the 400 meters, Jonathan Hill scored two points for the Fords in a seventh place finish (50.39) while Reed Solomon (55.26) and Jonah Hoffman-Weitsman (1:00.16) also notched top 50 showings in a loaded field. Hill's time certainly turned some heads in the Centennial Conference as it is the fifth-best showing this season. The 100 meter dash saw Alex Reichard glide to an 11.6 (26th place), ahead of Nathan Ma (11.97), and David Cole (12.49) who also notched top 50 showings.
In field events, Jonah Levine was 18th in the shot put (8.72 meters or 28 feet, 7.5 inches) while Amon-Ra Kamit was 22nd (7.71 meters or 25 feet, 3.5 inches). In the discus, Cyrus Slavin was 13th (31.21 meters or 102 feet, 5 inches). Slavin also tossed the Javelin 31.59 meters (103 feet, 8 inches) for 10th place.
Haverford will now next be in action as the outdoor season shifts back to Widener for the Widener Invitational, which begins on Friday, April 21 at 5 p.m.