CLAREMONT, Calif. – Haverford College's Andrew Golato closed out his career as a Ford with an 18th-place finish in the 800 meter run Friday evening on Day 2 of the NCAA 2012 Division III track & field championship meet hosted by Claremont-McKenna College.

Golata posted a time of 1 minute, 54.31 seconds in the third of three preliminary heats of the day's final individual event. The top two finishers in each heat plus the next three fastest times from the prelim heats advance to Saturday's championship final of nine racers. Golato was sixth in his heat.

In 2011 Golato earned All-American status as part of the Fords' distance medley relay which placed third at the indoor national meet. Earlier that season he was part of the DMR which set a (still standing) school and league record with a time of 9:56.01 at the NYU Team Challange meet. The following weekend Golato and his DMR teammates captured the event title at the Centennial Conference championship meet.

Haverford's three points at the 2012 outdoor championship puts the Fords in 18th place in the team standings which are led by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with 21 points. The national meet concludes on Saturday with several Fords taking to the oval.

Tim Schoch will lead the day off in the championship heat of the 1,500 after qualifying for the final in Thursday's prelims. In the final individual event of the meet, the 5,000 meter run, a trio of Fords will compete led by Jordan Schilit who enters the event with the second-fastest time of the 20 racers. Peter Kissin and Faraz Sohail will join Schilit in representing the Fords in the event.

800 meter run results (preliminaries)