LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Haverford College men's cross country team placed 18th at the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship on Saturday afternoon at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park. The Fords averaged a time of 25:34 and had a spread of 1:20 flat. Haverford scored 459 points, besting NCAA regional foe Carnegie Mellon, who scored in 20th place. Haverford, who was making its 24th trip to the NCAA Championship meet, finished within the Top 20 of the nation for 24th straight season dating back to 1993.
Junior Henry Woods continued his impressive junior campaign as he picked up an All-American certificate after a 22nd place finish. The award is the first All-American honor for the New York City product. Woods finished in 24:45.3, shaving nearly a minute off his 120th place finish last season at the National Championship in Winneconne, Wis. Woods becomes the 34th cross country All-American in program history. Most recently, the mark was reached by Charlie Marquardt '16 at the 2015 championships.
Finishing second for the Fords in 97th place was sophomore Ryan Herlihy, who crossed in 25:22.5 in his first NCAA Championship appearance. Senior co-captain Jimmy Gorman, completing an impressive run of four national championship appearances, finished third for the Fords in 144th place (25:41.4). The fourth-straight apperance puts Gorman amongst an elite group of Haverford distance runners that includes Seamus McElligott and Karl Paranya.
Sophomore Greg Morgan made his NCAA Championship debut, crossing in 184th place with a time of 25:54.6. Sophomore Dylan Gearinger, another first-time NCAA entrant, finished in 194th with a time of 26:05.2. Sophomore Graham Peet crossed in 26:17.5 in his second national meet. Senior co-captain Charlie Hale was the 228th finisher with a time of 26:23.4 to round out the seven for the Fords in his first national meet.
North Central (Ill.) took the National Championship for the 17th time with a commanding performance, finishing with the largest margin of victory in NCAA Division III History scoring just 60 points and having all scorers earn All-America honors. The Individual championship went to Ian LaMere of Wisconsin-Platteville who crossed in 23:40.4. Mideast Region champion Ernie Pitone of Widener finished second in 24:09 flat while Tim Nichols of Tufts raced into the podium with a narrow third place finish, just .7 seconds behind Pitone.
The Fords will now turn the focus to the Indoor Track and Field season, which will get underway on December 3 with the Villanova Pyrah Invitational at Alumni Field House here on the Haverford campus.