NEWVILLE, Pa. - The 32nd-ranked Haverford men's cross country team tested itself against some of the nation's best competition at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational hosted by Dickinson College on Saturday afternoon. Haverford took to the rigorous 8K course at Big Spring High School and came away with an 11th place overall finish, tallying 311 points.

The event featured 12 nationally ranked teams. Haverford finished in front of a pair of ranked squads, outpacing No. 34 SUNY Brockport and No. 35 Hope. No. 8 MIT won the race, with No. 5 Williams, No. 9 RPI, No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer, and No. 14 George Fox rounding out the top five placements in the team standings. 

In what serves as an early preview of the official course for the NCAA Division III Championships in November, Haverford's low stick Peter LaRochelle provided a spark with a 29th place overall finish in 25:32. Just 10 spots behind LaRochelle was senior Nathaniel Leighninger, who crossed in 25:41.9 for 39th overall in the stacked field. 

Senior Matthew Denton crossed 65th overall (a personal-best 25:57.9), and sophomore Micah Lachman was the fourth to toe the finish line for Haverford in 91st (a personal-best 26:17.7). Junior Seamus Fraser rounded out the Haverford scorers in 102nd overall, scoring 93 with a time of 26:24.1

Junior Reza Eshghi (26:30.4, 114th) and senior Luca Ponticello (26:42.9, 133rd) rounded out the Fords top seven finishers.

The Fords now hop right back into the swing of things, prepping for the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle at the DREAM Park in South Jersey on October 14. The men's 8K race will begin at 11:45 a.m in what serves as another mid-season tests against squads from both the Mideast and Metro regions.