GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The 23rd-ranked Haverford College men's cross country team finished second at the Centennial Conference Championships at Gettysburg College, edged only by No. 5 Johns Hopkins, who scored a perfect 15 to capture the title, ending Haverford's five year reign at the top of the Conference. Haverford scored 66 points, well clear of No. 31 Dickinson, who tallied 75 points for a third-place finish.
Haverford put a pair of runners in the top 10 as first year Ryan Kredell and senior co-captain Sam McCalpin each picked up Second-team All-Centennial Conference nods, finishing in ninth and 10th, respectively. McCalpin earned All-Conference honors for the second consecutive campaign. As the top first-year finisher, Kredell was also named the Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year. A Haverford runner has now earned that distinction each of the last two seasons as Jamie Moreland was the conference's Rookie of the Year in 2018 following Haverford's title-winning performance.
Kredell crossed in ninth to lead Haverford in the championship race, continuing an impressive debut season with a time of 25:37.3. McCalpin was right behind his teammate, crossing just over a second later in 25:38.5. Sophomore Peter Buckley then crossed in 15th, narrowly missing All-Conference honors in a time of 25:55.2.
Senior Conor Madden was the next to finish for Haverford, taking 18th place overall in 26:07.3. Sophomore Max Brelig was right behind Madden for 19th, crossing in a time of 26:08.1 to round out the Haverford scorers.
The rest of the Haverford field in the championship race included senior co-captain Hiro Kawakatsu notching a 24th place showing (26:22.2) to lead a tight pack of Haverford runners that also included first year Aaron Bratt in 25th place (26:23.3), and senior David Watt in 26th (26:27). Junior Jack Hunter finished in 33rd with a time of 26:49.2, while junior Matt Katz crossed in 42nd (27:10.9), and sophomore Nico Tripeny was the 46th to cross in 27:12.2.
In the annual 8K open race that followed the women's championship, first year Charlie Ferguson (27:15) and senior co-captain James Barker (27:25) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Sophomore Ryan O'Donnell (27:52) finished ninth, and senior Sam Ditkovsky turned in a 10th place showing in 27:57. Sophomore Amos Karlsen (28:16), junior Simon Perales (28:19), sophomore Jacob Gaba (28:27), and First year Nick Scardigno (28:37) then finished in 12th through 15th, respectively, putting a cap on a top 15 that included eight Haverford runners.
Haverford also picked up a Hood Trophy point by virtue of men's cross country finishing above Swarthmore. The Garnet finished fourth overall, scoring 125 points.
Men's Cross Country will now return to action at the 2019 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional at Lehigh University. The race will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 16 as the Fords look to earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships by virtue of finishing as one of the top two teams in the regional race.