HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's cross country team will try to wrest back the Centennial Conference championship crown Saturday in Baltimore, Md., having owned the hardware for 15 consecutive years prior to the 2008 race.

Haverford finished as the runner-up to Dickinson College that year, and then again last fall, but the 2010 campaign has brought with it a vigor that has propelled these Fords to high regional and national rankings.

Entering the conference championship week, Haverford is ranked fifth in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) Division III national poll. The USTFCCCA Mideast Region poll has the Fords rated second-best trailing only Allegheny College (second in the national poll).

A pair of seniors, Joseph Carpenter and Anders Hulleberg, are likely front-runners for the pack of Fords that will attack the 8-kilometer Belmont Conference Center course Saturday morning at 11 a.m. Carpenter led Haverford at the Paul Short Run, and Hulleberg was the top finisher for the Fords at the Princeton Invitational.

Opposing runners won't be able to focus on just the two Haverford seniors, however, as the Scarlet and Black has received strong showings throughout the season from runners such as sophomore Jordan Schilit, and seniors Chris Southwick and Lucas Fuentes.

Much of the team's 2010 schedule included invitationals that challenged the Haverford men with mostly Division I opposition, strengthening and honing the D-III Fords' racing skills.

The reigning champion Red Devils will surely put up a fight, but Saturday's Centennial meet will be the place to show Dickinson and the rest of the conference that the Fords are back, and hungry for more.