HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's indoor track & field team finished second overall at the Centennial Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. The Fords recorded a top-two team finish for the 16th time in 23 Centennial Indoor Championship appearances. With a team score of 115, the Fords' total was the team's highest since the 2011 championship meet and the ninth highest team score at the conference meet in program history.
It was a true team effort from the Fords as they received 21 different scoring performances over the two day meet. Haverford also had point scorers in 16 of the 18 contested events. This list included 12 top three finishers.
Haverford tied team champion Johns Hopkins with 30 points between all four relays. The Fords were second in the 4x200, 4x800, and distance medley relays, while finishing third in the 4x400 relay. The Fords' 4x800 was just edged at the line by under two-tenths of a second despite becoming the ninth quickest relay quad in school history. The distance medley relay also set a new season best time, holding its spot as the seventh fastest relay team in school history.
Reigning Centennial Outstanding Rookie of the Meet Brittany Steele backed up her championship performances in the 60 meters (8.01) and 200 (27.10) meters with second and third place finishes in those event this year. Steele was just one-hundredth of a second behind Gettysburg's Katharine Cavanaugh for the top spot in the 60 meters. She was just under four-tenths of a second off of Ursinus' Erin Farrell's pace in the 200 meters.
The Fords tallied a total of seven runner-up finishes for the championship as Nora Weathers (mile) and Mairead Ferry (60 meter hurdles) also raced to second place finishes. Weathers finished her mile in a career-best time 4:59.04. The mark moved her up to third in school history in the event, while ranking her 10th in NCAA Division III at press time. Sarah Wade (5:21.09) recorded an eighth place finish in the mile.
Ferry was the top qualifier in the 60 meter hurdle prelims. In the finals race, Gettysburg's Cavanaugh edged her by just over four-tenths of a second. Ferry was very consistent with a time of 9.36 in the preliminaries and 9.37 in the finals. Her new personal best from the prelims makes her the second quickest individual in program history for the event. After scoring a fourth place finish in the triple jump on Saturday, Carolyn Oehrig placed sixth overall in the 60 meter hurdle finals with a time of 9.91, tying her personal best. Ferry also recorded a sixth place finish in the pole vault by clearing 2.60 meters (8'6.25").
Haverford's runner-up finish in the field events came from in the shot put where Claire Sargent recorded a personal best throw of 12.40 meters (40'8.25"). Her toss solidifies her spot at No. 2 in school history, making her throw just nine inches short of the Haverford indoor record. Robin Chernow also scored with a throw of 10.80 meters (35'5.25") as she recorded a seventh place finish.
Haverford added top three individual finishes on the track from Sedona Murphy in the 400 meters and Katie Sullivan in the 800 meters. Sullivan's new personal best time of 2:19.09 moves her up to eighth in the school record book. Murphy just missed becoming a top 10 runner in school history with a mark of 1:01.42. Coming off her championship run in the 5,000 minutes last night, Kelley Riffenburgh scored Sunday with a seventh place finish in the 3,000 meters (10:18.17). Her teammate Maggie Heffernan was right behind her in eighth with a time of 10:21.23 to also score for the Fords.
Women's indoor track & field will now await any bids to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. The top 17 declared individuals qualify for the national indoor championship. Weathers is currently 10th in the mile, while Riffenburgh is ranked 14th in the 5,000 meters as of press time. The NCAA Championships will be held on Winston-Salem, North Carolina and will be run on March 13-14.