HAVERFORD, Pa. – For the 19th time in 22 seasons, the Haverford College men's cross country team won the Centennial Conference Championship. Haverford scored 21 team points on Saturday to claim the victory. Junior Charlie Marquardt claimed the 17th individual title for the Fords in the conference's history.
On a rainy, cold day, head coach Tom Donnelly's squad finished with four runners among the top nine runners. Marquardt won the race (25:30.2) by nine seconds over his teammate senior David Roza. Senior Joel Christian was right behind Roza with a time of 25:41.2. Reigning Centennial Conference Runner of the Week Soren Rasmussen was sixth with a career-best time of 25:56.4 and sophomore Jimmy Gorman came in the ninth position (26.01.8).
The individuals finishing first through seventh were named first-team All-Centennial Conference, while ninth through 14th earned second-team all-conference accolades. By virtue of his individual championship, Marquardt was named the Centennial Conference Runner of the Year.
Junior Nicholas Gandolfo-Lucia finished 16th (26.17.1) followed by sophomore Michael Brier in 17th with a time of 26:20.2. Junior Jeff Duncan had a 20th place finish (26:26.7) while junior John Curry was just two seconds behind him in 21st.
Johns Hopkins finished second with a total of 48 points. The Blue Jays had five runners among the top 15 finishers. Dickinson was third with 74 points while Swarthmore finished with 97 points in fourth place.
It's the second time that Haverford has hosted the conference title and won the event. Haverford was won the last five individual championships. With four runners among the top seven, Haverford now has 89 first-team all-conference runners, the most among any team in the Centennial Conference.
The Fords will now run in the Mideast Regional in Newville, Pa., on Nov. 15th with an eye on the NCAA Championships in Wilmington, Ohio on Nov. 22.