HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's cross country team will wrap up its season in a familiar spot, the NCAA Division III Championships. The program has grown accustomed to the national stage on the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, as Saturday will mark Haverford's 27th straight appearance in the national championships. This year, the championship meet returns to Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. for the first time since the 2016 season.
Haverford at the National Championships
The Fords have finished within the national Top 20 in each of their previous 26 consecutive appearances, and have placed within the top 10 on 19 occasions, trailing only North Central (Ill.), Wisconsin-La Crosse, and Calvin in that regard. Haverford has ascended to the national podium seven times, including a fourth-place finish just a season ago at the Wisconsin-Oshkosh hosted event in Winneconne, Wisc. Haverford captured the 2010 national championship in Waverly, Iowa at host Wartburg College. Men's Cross Country has also had three individual champions in program history, with Seamus McElligott (1990), J.B. Haglund (2001), and Anders Hulleberg (2010) all topping their respective fields.
Declared Entrants
The Fords 10 potential entrants include first-year Aaron Bratt (Bethesda, Md.), sophomore Max Brelig (Bonnieville, Ky.), sophomore Peter Buckley (Athens, Ohio), junior Jack Hunter (San Francisco, Calif.), junior Matt Katz (Huntington, N.Y.), senior co-captain Hiro Kawakatsu (Tokyo, Japan), first-year Ryan Kredell (Geneva, Ill.), senior Conor Madden (Haddonfield, N.J.), senior Sam McCalpin (Louisville, Ky.), and senior David Watt (Cambridge, Mass.).
Last time in Louisville
Haverford finished 18th in its last visit to Louisville, with Henry Woods '18 earning All-America honors on the Tom Sawyer State Park course. During that campaign, the top 35 finishers were named All-America, with Woods finishing 22nd overall. This season finishers within the top 40 nationally will be named All-America by the USTFCCCA. No current member of Haverford's projected top seven was entered into that race.
Kentucky Roots
Two members of Haverford's projected top seven hail from Kentucky, as Senior co-captain Sam McCalpin (Louisville, Ky. / Trinity) and sophomore Max Brelig (Bonnieville, Ky. / Hart County) are natives of the Bluegrass State and will be competing in the state on the collegiate level for the first time.
Postseason Wrap-Up
The Fords earned an at-large berth to the championships, taking a third place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regional championship at Lehigh last week. In that race, Haverford was paced by senior Conor Madden. Madden finished 17th overall to pace the Fords in Bethlehem, while Sam McCalpin, Peter Buckley, and Ryan Kredell were all also named All-Mideast Region after finishing within the Top 35 overall entrants in the 8K race. In the Centennial Championship two weeks prior, 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 CC title-winning performance.
National Poll
In the pre-championship release of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) National Poll, Haverford moves up a tick to the No. 21 overall ranking. Among Mideast Regional foes, Carnegie Mellon checks in fourth after a second consecutive regional title, while reigning Centennial champ Johns Hopkins is slotted sixth. Williams takes the top spot in the poll, unseating the reign of North Central (Ill.) for the first time since the fifth weekly release of 2016.
How to Follow
A live video broadcast is available for a fee via the FloSports/FloTrack subscription package. In addition live results are available via the NCAA and Leone Timing.