HAVERFORD, Pa. – The men's track & field team from Haverford College tuned up for the upcoming conference championship meet with several top performances Friday evening in the Keogh Invitational hosted by the Fords at The Gary Lutnick Tennis & Track Center in Alumni Field House.
The Fords swept the the three relay events and picked up first-place finishes individually in the mile and 60-meter hurdles. A number of other Haverford athletes posted career- or season-best times in preparation for the Centennial Championship meet which takes place Sat., Feb. 23 at Ursinus College.
The biggest splash of the meet for Haverford was the distance medley relay's winning time of 10 minutes, 2.90 seconds. The quartet of Ivo Milic-Strkalj, Gebby Keny, Michael Riccio and Jordan Schilit teamed up to produce the nation's fastest Division III time in winning Friday's event. Their clocking also edges closer to the school record of 9:56.01 set in February of 2011.
Haverford also posted event-winning finishes in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Sam Callon, Jonathan Yellets, Jeffrey Ainsley and James Torain opened Friday's meet with a winning time of 1:33.76 in the 4x200, falling just shy of the school record (1:31.58) set nine years ago.
In the 4x400, Torain led off and grabbed the lead by the end of the starting curve. The Fords never trailed over the remainder of the race with Callon taking the baton from Torain, then handing off to Yellets and eventually Keny who anchored the foursome and crossed the finish in a time of 3:32.67.
The mile produced a Haverford-esque result as in addition to a Ford -- Christopher Stadler -- winning the event, the top 10 was flush with Haverford singlets.
Stadler's winning time of 4:12.65 is a flat-track season best for the junior whose time should hold up to finish the weekend in the top five among D-III milers. Finishing third Friday was freshman Charlie Marquardt (the reigning Centennial track athlete of the week) who registered a season best time of 4:13.18 which will likely be a top-10 time by the time the rest of the nation's meet results are entered into the online Track & Field Results and Reporting System website.
Senior Peter Kissin was on Marquardt's heels in fourth, posting a career-best time of 4:15.29, a time that should crack the top 15 in the nation. In seventh Friday, David Roza posted a career best with a time of 4:30.43.
Ainsley continued a solid freshman season for Haverford, winning the 60m-hurdles in 8.74 seconds, only 0.07 off his team-record tying best from earlier this season. In the high jump, Ainsley cleared a season-best height of 1.88 meters to finish second.
Andrew Bennett, who studied abroad in the fall semester, is quickly getting back into the swing of things doubling up in the long and triple jumps Friday with performances building up toward the Centennial meet. Bennett recorded a season-best long jump of 6.18m to finish second and leaped to a distance of 12.63m in his first triple jump event of the winter.
Both of Haverford's shot putters recorded career bests Friday at the Keogh. Robert Parry tied his best with a toss of 10.86m while Alex Smith set a new career mark with a throw of 9.89m.
The Fords head to Collegeville, Pa., on Saturday, Feb. 23 for the Centennial championship meet at Ursinus where Haverford will attempt to stave off the challenges to what would be its third straight indoor conference title.