HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's cross country team is set to host the Centennial Conference Championship on the Alumni Cross Country Course Saturday.
The Centennial Conference has had 21 cross country championships with the Fords winning 18 of them. Sixteen individual champions in the conference's history have been from Haverford. Head coach Tom Donnelly's squad finished third last season, despite two-time All-American Christopher Stadler winning his second consecutive individual title.
The Fords, ranked No. 14 in the latest NCAA poll, hosted the Haverford Invitational on Oct. 24. Haverford had 10 runners place among the top 20 finishers including a second-place finish by the reigning Centennial Conference Runner of the Week Soren Rasmussen.
Haverford is led by junior Charlie Marquardt, an All-Mideast Region runner last season, who set his personal best 8K time with a 24:36.1 at the Princeton Invitational. He also has two top-ten finishes this season, placing ninth at the Main Line Invitational and Paul Short Invitational. The junior also was the highest non-Division I runner in two races.
Senior Joel Christian will also run for the Fords. He finished 26th as last year's Centennial Conference Championships and ran in the Mideast Regional and NCAA Championship. Sophomore Michael Brier set career bests in the 8K, four mile and three mile runs this season as did sophomore Jimmy Gorman. Junior Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia had his personal best 8K time at the Princeton Invitational this year and junior Jeff Duncan has experience running in the Centennial Conference Championship, placing 29th in the 2012 event.
Sophomore Charlie Hale will get his first chance at the conference championship after registering his best times in the 8K, four mile and three mile runs during the 2014 campaign and sophomore Evan Hamilton will also get his first crack at the Centennial Conference Championship. After setting personal bests this year, senior David Roza will run in his third Centennial Conference Championship while seniors David Marsico and John Curry will participate in their second.
The No. 14 ranked Fords have been in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association poll the entire season, placing as high as No. 11 and as low as No. 20. They have been in every poll since week seven of the 2008 season. Haverford is one of three Centennial Conference teams in the poll with Dickinson coming in at No. 18 and the defending conference champion, Johns Hopkins, at No. 26.
The men's race will take place at 11 a.m. with the women's race taking place at noon. A live web stream of the finish line will also be available for the races.