OWINGS MILL, Md. – The Haverford College men's cross country team defended its Centennial Conference Championship with its five scorers placing inside the top ten, highlighted by senior Charlie Marquardt's second straight individual title.
Haverford scored its 20th conference title in 23 seasons while Marquardt became the 18th Ford to win the conference event. The senior is just the fifth person in conference history and fourth person from Haverford to win back-to-back titles. Chris Stadler '14 (2012-13), current cross country assistant coach J.B. Haglund '02 (2000-01) and Karl Paranya '97 (1994-96) were the other runners under head coach Tom Donnelly to win multiple crowns.
Marquardt (25:09.2) crossed the finish line four seconds in front of his teammate, junior Jimmy Gorman (25:13.4). Senior Sam Fujimori was fifth (25:24.2) while freshman Graham Peet (25:38.5) was eighth, senior Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia (25:39.4) placed ninth, sophomore Henry Woods (25:39.7) finished 10th, junior Michael Brier completed the race in 11th (25:41.8) and senior Dylan Verner-Crist was 14th (26:03.4).
The individuals finishing first through seventh were named first-team All-Centennial Conference, while eighth through 14th earned second-team all-conference accolades. By virtue of his individual championship, Marquardt is the Centennial Conference Runner of the Year. The Fords now have 92 Centennial Conference first-team selections, 62 more than the next closest school, Dickinson.
Other finishers for Haverford were juniors Charlie Hale (26:19.3), Evan Hamilton (26:39.6) (26th), senior Jeff Duncan (26:58.7), and sophomore Tyler Fong (26:58.7).
The host, Johns Hopkins, was second in the team scoring with 70 total points. Dickinson came in third (94), followed by Swarthmore (110), Muhlenberg (139), Gettysburg (147), Franklin and Marshall (185), McDaniel (234) and Ursinus (252).
In the open race, the Fords had six runners finished inside the top ten. Those runners were freshmen Dylan Gearinger (26:32.8, second), Michael Schach (26:35.7, third), sophomore Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe (26:45.4, fifth), freshman Ryan Herlihy (26:51.2, sixth), freshman Ian Steller (26:55.3, seventh) and freshman Greg Morgan (26:56.1, ninth).
The men's cross country team will now take part in the NCAA Mideast Regional in Newville, Pa. on November 14th (12:00 p.m.) with an eye on the NCAA Championships the new week (Nov. 21).