Sports

Belmont's Stadler Crowned National 5,000M Indoor Track Champ for Haverford

Class of 2010 Belmont High grad beats field to give "fords" their first track title in more than a decade.

Haverford College's Christopher Stadler was crowned the national champion in the men's 5,000-meter run Saturday afternoon at the NCAA 2013 Division III indoor track & field championships, posting a winning time of 14 minutes, 27.74 seconds to earn All-American honors and help the Fords to a ninth-place finish in the team standings, according to the Haverford College Athletics web page.

The junior from Belmont and a 2010 graduate from Belmont High School entered Saturday's timed final at the Al B. Carius Track-Residence Hall/Recreation Center on the campus of North Central College in Napier, Ill. as the event's top seed. 

The race came down to two men, Stadler and North Central's John Crain, with the Haverford junior edging Crain by 1.18 seconds at the finish. 

Find out what's happening in Belmontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Stadler's indoor championship crown is the 10th for Haverford and first since the distance medley relay of Greg Bielecki, Chris Ward, Chris Johnstone and J.B. Haglund captured a title at the 2002 D-III championship meet.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Belmont