HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's track and field team began the 2021-22 indoor season with its annual Haverford Holiday Meet on Saturday afternoon inside the Alumni Field House, returning to indoor competition at home for the first time in 651 days. The meet was not team scored, but the Fords posted solid performances in a bevy of events throughout the meet, taking individual titles in six events.
Jonathan Hill made his debut for the college with a convincing 200-meter dash win, pacing the field in 24.25. Ravi Eaton (24.70) crossed in third, while Jacob Foster (25.00), Amon-Ra Kamit (25.59), Boahen Kwakye (27.85), David Cole (28.07), and Kevin Villafane (28.76) rounded out a strong Haverford sprints contingent. Hill finished second in the 60 meter dash (7.46), ahead of Ashton Smith (7.71) who crossed in third. Kamit also notched a fourth-place showing (7.79), while Nathan Ma (7.87), Cole (8.12) and Kwakye (8.26) rounded out the entrants in the shortest event on the docket.
Mac Sanders marked his return to competition with a victory in the 400 meters (1:02.14), ahead of debutant Matthew Ruiz (1:07.61). Sam Diaz (2:15.82) clocked a sixth-place showing in the 800 meters, while Seawon Park was just behind his teammate in 2:16.30 for seventh place overall.
The mile grouping was paced by Reza Eshghi, who captured an event title with a time of 4:32.89, outpacing Sam Brody of Swarthmore in a spirited final lap battle. Luca Ponticello finished third (4:42.06), while Reed Solomon (4:43.79) and Scott Kaiser (4:45.65) finished in sixth and eighth, respectively. Evan Daniels (4:48.90), Michael Franco (4:49.77), Caesar Dai (5:04.27), William Harris (5:09.20), Kieran McDonnell (5:20.52), and Keqing He (5:52.76) rounded out another sizable Haverford contingent.
Peter LaRochelle continued his impressive first year campaign that resulted in an All-Metro Region certificate in cross country, pacing the field in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:52.72 Just behind LaRochelle was Jeffrey Allen (16:14.49) while, Seamus Fraser (16:29.86), Matthew Denton (16:30.88), Jacob Gaba (16:44.52), Seamus Flannery (16:57.46), Sammy Schindel (17:04.94), and Jay Whitesell (18:20.52) finished in fourth through ninth place, respectively.
In field events, Eaton looked strong in his first indoor meet, capturing both the long jump and triple jump, posting a mark of 6.18m (20 feet, 3.5 inches) in the long jump and 12.31m in the triple jump (40 feet, 4.75 inches). Foster was third in the long jump with a mark of 5.68 meters (18 feet, 7.75 inches), while Ma (5.64m, 18 feet six inches) finished fourth.
Cyrus Slavin led the way in the shot put, finishing with a throw of 10.80 meters (35 feet, 5.25 inches) for a fifth place finish. Rasaaq Shittu (9.8 meters, 32 feet, 2 inches) finished sixth, while Juan Miguel Pinto Diaz (7.6 meters, 24 feet, 11.25 inches) and Tiger Wang (6.72 meters, 22 feet, 0.75 inches) rounded out the Haverford contingent.
The Fords will now take a break for the final week of classes and exams, before entering the winter holiday period. Indoor Track & Field action will return on Saturday, January 15, 2022 with the TCNJ Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Complex on Staten Island. Haverford's next home meet, the McElligott Invitational, is slated for January 29 at 10:30 a.m.