“I think everyone was hungry and just went out there ready,” Sixth Former Jay Rodgers said.
The September 21st. Whippets Invitational is a 5000-meter race with many teams from the tri-state area.
“It’s a quick course,” said head coach Mr. Brian Long.
The Fords ran with personal records all across the board. The varsity team came in sixth place out of the 22 teams in the race.
Sixth Form captain Alex Dardarian’s 16:21 time equities to a 5:15-mile pace. With a furious finish, he placed eighth out of the 153 runners.
“I felt like I exploded past everyone and got my placement,” Dardarian said.
Another notable time came from Fourth Former Lucas Crutchlow, who finished in 17:56—a 5:46-mile pace. He finished 51st, an impressive finish for the young runner.
Crutchlow believes his pre-race routine was the key to his success.
“Pre-race is everything,” he said. “It all starts with a good playlist and warmup.”
Fifth Former James MacColl finished in 17:10. MacColl has been a consistent runner this year and pulled through once again at the Whippets Invitational, placing 28th.
The Junior Varsity team also had an impressive showing, placing 2nd. The result was made possible by the 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th, and 19th placements from, respectively, Sixth Former Finn Kelly, Fourth Former Grant Kim, Sixth Former Mason Wiegand, Sixth Former Michael Crutchlow, and Fourth Former Thomas Lentz.
Coach Long wants the team healthy for the last races up ahead: the Inter-Ac meet, PAISAA’s, and EA Day.
“It’s all about getting healthy,” Coach Long said. “We have a couple of guys that are injured now, and if we can get them healthy over the next week or two, we could have a really strong end to the season.”
Haverford finished third at last year’s PAISAA, the state meet.
“I would love to be able to target a similar place this year,” Coach Long said.
