GLASSBORO, N.J. – The No. 9 ranked Haverford College men's cross country team took home the team title at the Rowan Inter-Collegiate Border Battle that was highlighted by senior Charlie Marquardt's first place finish (24:40).
Marquardt was the first to cross the finish line, eight seconds in front of Ernie Pitone of Widener. The returning Centennial Conference Runner of the Year has won five of the last seven races he's entered. His time was just four seconds shy of his personal best mark.
Haverford had the lowest total among the 24 teams entered in the event with 62 points. The Fords had their top five runners among the first 21 finishers in the 231-person event. TCNJ was second with 98 points, followed by Elizabethtown (132), Geneseo St. (151) and Ramapo (159). Centennial Conference rival, Dickinson, was seventh with Swarthmore (16th) and Johns Hopkins (19th) also participating in the event.
Senior Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia placed ninth, breaking his personal best 8k time by 18 seconds (25:01.92). Sophomore Jimmy Gorman was 14th (25:13.73) while sophomore Henry Woods shattered his career best time with a 25:18.92 (17th). Senior Sam Fujimori crossed the finish line in 21st (25:19.73), followed by freshman Graham Peet (25:25.68) (28th). Junior Charlie Hale (25:39.34) and senior Dylan Verner-Crist (25:42) also had personal bests in the race.
In the open race, Haverford had 12 runners place among the top 21 finishers. Junior Evan Hamilton led the Fords with a 25:41.11 to finish in the second position behind Sam Heraghty of Geneso St. Freshmen Dylan Gearinger (25:58.08) and Ryan Herlihy (25:58.26) were fifth and sixth while sophomore Matt Willig had the best time in his career (26.14) to place 10th.
Junior Julian Schneider took over two minutes off his previous 8k time (26:34.77) in the open race. Other improvements include senior Ryan Gooding (26:33.51), sophomores James Stadler (26:33.51), Lincoln Satterthwaite (26:40.95) and Liam Bassett (28:04.79).
The Fords will host the Haverford Invitational at the Alumni Cross Country Course next Friday at 5 p.m. before traveling to Stevenson for the Centennial Conference Championship on Halloween (Oct. 31).