NEWVILLE, Pa. – The No. 3 Haverford College men's cross country team secured its place in the national championship meet for the 25th consecutive season with an exceptional performance at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pa. The Fords captured the 2017 NCAA Mideast Regional title with a dominating effort that saw five Haverford finishers in the top 10 overall.
The regional crown is the 23rd overall regional championship for Haverford, as the Fords captured the championship for the first time since 2015. Graham Peet, Henry Woods and Ryan Herlihy finished 1-2-3 in the race, the first time the Fords have ever achieved the feat at a regional race.
Haverford scored 25, the third best regional meet team score in the illustrious history of the program. The 2010 national title squad scored 23 while the 2001 team tallied 24 points en-route to a 12th place national finish.
No. 12 Carnegie Mellon finished second with 96 points while No. 14 Johns Hopkins was third with 103 total points. No. 22 York (Pa.) was fourth with 196 points while host and conference foe Dickinson rounded out the top five with 249 points.
The Fords placed five finishers in the top 10 for just the second time in program history. The only other time the feat has been achieved was during the 2010 Mideast Regional, as the Fords took the regional in Slippery Rock, Pa. en route to a national championship.
Graham Peet, the 13th individual regional champion in program history and first since Charlie Marquardt in 2015, crossed in 25:22.9. Peet, in just his junior campaign, remains firmly on-track to become Haverford's 12th four-time NCAA national qualifier. Woods, the Centennial Conference individual champion and Herlihy each crossed in 25:24.9.
Greg Morgan crossed in ninth place overall with a time of 25:31.8 while Dylan Gearinger was 10th in a time of 25:32.9 to round out the scorers for the Fords. The spread between Peet and Gearinger was just 10 seconds as the Fords exemplified a true team effort on the course.
Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe crossed the finish line in 25th overall with a time of 25:50.1 while Sam McCalpin crossed 32nd overall in 25:54.7 to round out the Haverford contingent.
By virtue of top-35 finishes, each of Haverford's regional participants will be awarded All-Mideast Region honors. Woods and Peet have now earned the honor in three straight seasons while Herlihy and Morgan picked up their second straight All-Region designation.
The Fords now eagerly await the NCAA Division III National Championship race on Saturday, November 18 in Elsah, Ill. The meet, hosted by Principia College, will begin at 11 a.m.