HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's indoor track & field team won seven of the 18 events last year at the Centennial Conference Championships. Looking for similar results this year, the Fords return three of their five individual champions and seven of the eight relay legs from those two championship relay teams.
Haverford scored 120 points for its highest team score since the 2011 indoor championships at last year's meet. The 2017 Centennial Conference Championships will be hosted by Ursinus and will be contested on Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26. The Fords have placed first or second in 18 of the conference's 23 indoor championships contested. Haverford has had at least one individual champion in all but one of those years, with multiple individual champions on 13 occasions. The Fords have also won at least one of the relays in 16 different years, including 13 times with two or more relay titles.
Claire Sargent (shot put) and Katie Sullivan (800 meters) are two of Haverford's returning champions; however, neither is the top seed entering the weekend. Sargent is ranked second in the shot put with her mark just behind Swarthmore's Maggie O'Neil. Sullivan is seeded third in the 800 meters, but just two-hundredths of a second separated the top three times during the regular season. Sullivan is also seeded second in the mile, less than a second off the pace of the top seed, in an event won by Nora Weathers '16 last year. Amelia Keyser-Gibson, the returning champion in the 5,000 meters, will not defend her championship in that event but instead also run in the mile where she is seeded eighth.
The Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year a season ago, Taylor Murphy is seeded in the top four in three different events. The sophomore enters the weekend as the top seed in the 60 meter hurdles, an event she placed third in last year. Murphy is ranked third in the 200 meter dash and is the returning runner-up in that event. She is also seeded fourth in the 60 meter dash, matching her finish from a year ago. Adding to the sprints, Marisa Antinori is seeded eighth in the 60 meter dash. She also holds that rank in the long jump. Also looking to score in the individual track events will be Nicole Giannetti and Sophie Drew. Giannetti is ranked fourth in the 3,000 meters after placing seventh in that event last year. Drew is the eighth seed in the 800 meters.
Looking to add points in the field events is Elizabeth Reikowski. Reikowski is seeded third in the triple jump, matching her finish at last year's championship meet. Grace Mathis is ranked 10th entering the weekend in the pole vault. She placed seventh a season ago.
Haverford also won the 4x200 meter relay and distance medley relay at the conference meet last winter. Tess Oberholtzer, Kerry Quigley, and Murphy each ran a leg in that relay last year. The Fords have all four legs of last year's DMR returning in Amy Zamora, Giannetti, Drew, and Keyser-Gibson – should they all run the event again. Haverford has not contested a DMR this season and is ranked third in the 4x200 relay to date. The Fords were second in the 4x800 relay last winter and seeded fourth entering the weekend, while the 4x400 relay returns each of its legs from a year ago when the team placed fourth.