NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Haverford College's Christopher Stadler was crowned the national champion in the men's 5,000-meter run Saturday afternoon at the NCAA 2013 Division III indoor track & field championship meet, posting a winning time of 14 minutes, 27.74 seconds to earn All-American honors and help the Fords to a ninth-place finish in the team standings.
The junior entered Saturday's timed final at the Al B. Carius Track-Residence Hall/Recreation Center on the campus of North Central College as the event's top seed. Teammates Peter Kissin and Jordan Schilit were also among the 13 racers toeing the line at the start.
The race came down to two men, Stadler and North Central's John Crain, with the Haverford junior edging Crain by 1.18 seconds at the finish. Kissin came in ninth with a time of 14:45.55 and Schilit (14:51.01) was 11th.
Stadler's indoor championship crown is the 10th for Haverford and first since the distance medley relay (DMR) of Greg Bielecki, Chris Ward, Chris Johnstone and J.B. Haglund captured a title at the 2002 D-III championship meet.
The points gained from the 5,000 Saturday afternoon combined with Friday's points from the fourth-place DMR allowed the Fords to crack the top 10 in the team standings, tying for ninth with Central (Iowa) College as each school accumulated 15 points over the two-day meet.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse ran away with the team title, registering 74 points to out distance the 40 points posted by the runner-ups from Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Results: 5,000-meter run | Full meet results