BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The No. 19 Haverford College men's cross country team raced to third-place finish at the Paul Short Run Brown Race, as the Fords took to the course on a seasonable Friday afternoon at the Goodman Campus of Lehigh University. The Fords scored a total of 187 points, finishing below just Carnegie Mellon and Emory, but ahead of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the ninth-ranked team in the latest USTFCCCA Poll, as well as No. 14 Lynchburg.
In a strong early season test for the Fords, the top five teams in the race were all Division III schools as the race featured teams and entrants from all three NCAA divisions. Haverford placed above 29 programs from Division I and Division II, including the squads from Wagner, American, Vermont, Rider, New Hampshire, and Duquesne.
Senior Ryan Kredell, already a Centennial Conference Athlete of the Week earlier this season, continued his strong start as he paced the Fords with a time of 23:59.9, good for a seventh place overall finish. The time is an 8K personal best for Kredell, who previously logged a best of 25:02.1 at the NCAA Championships last season. Aaron Bratt was the second to toe the line for the Fords, crossing in 28th place overall with a time of 24:35.8, also a personal best for the senior. Sophomore Peter LaRochelle was the third finisher for the Fords in 24:42.6, taking a 36th place finish with senior Max Brelig (24:47.1) crossing in 42nd. Haverford's final scorer was senior Jamie Moreland, who took a 25:08.5 finish for 74th place overall.
Just outside of the scorers, senior Nico Tripeny crossed in 83rd (25:12.8), while junior Nathaniel Leighninger rounded out the top seven in 124th place overall. Senior Peter Buckley crossed in 127th (25:32.7), while sophomore Reza Eshghi (25:41.2) was 145th to finish. Sophomore Miles Colescott (25:58.3) notched a 195th place finish to round out the Haverford contingent.
In the open race that kicked off the day of action in the morning, Ryan Quenemoen was the first Haverford runner to cross the line, with a time of 25:42 for 135th. Seamus Fraser was 166th (25:58.6) while Evan Daniels notched a 198th place showing (26:14.4). Luca Ponticello (26:15.4, 202nd), Matthew Denton (26:24.5, 223rd), Sammy Schindel (26:56.9, 295th), Reed Solomon (27:23.4, 334th), Michael Franco (27:23.9, 335th), Jakob Maiwald (27:27.4, 342nd), and Flyn Meadows (27:31.9, 345th).
Men's Cross Country now returns to action in two weeks time, with a contingent heading up to the Connecticut College Invitational in New London, Connecticut on Saturday, October 15 at noon. A group will also stay closer to home, heading to Jefferson's Jack Saint Clair Memorial at noon, with that race taking place at Philadelphia's Belmont Plateau course.