HAVERFORD, Pa. – The 2015 Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships get underway Friday. The outdoor championship will continue through Sunday on the campus of Muhlenberg College. Haverford placed second as a team during the indoor conference championship and will look to carry that momentum into this weekend's meet.
The Fords have 16 entrants seeded among the top five in their respective events throughout the weekend. Nora Weathers enters the championship as the top ranked individual in the 800 meters. She is one of three Haverford runners in the top five for this event. Katherine Greifeld and Katie Sullivan are ranked fourth and fifth in the 800 meters, respectively. Weathers is also seeded third in the 1,500 meters. Amelia Keyser-Gibson and Sarah Wade have also entered this event for Haverford.
Moving into the longer distances, Kelley Riffenburgh is seeded second in the 10,000 meters and ninth in the 5,000 meters. Riffenburgh was the Centennial Conference Champion in the 5,000 meters during the indoor season. Charlotte Lellman earned the third seed in the 10,000 meters. Margaret Duffy and Allison Hacker will look to move into scoring position by improving on their ninth and 11th place seeds.
Maggie Heffernan and Nicole Giannetti will join Riffenburgh in the 5,000 meters over the weekend. Heffernan is seeded 11th in the field, while Giannetti is just behind her in 12th. These Haverford distance runners will also look for big points in the steeplechase. Heffernan is seeded second overall in this event, while Giannetti enters the weekend ranked fourth in the steeplechase field based on regular season marks.
In the sprints, Brittany Steele earned the second seed in the 100 meters. She is also seeded fourth overall in the 200 meters. Mairead Ferry earned the third seed in the 100 meter hurdles as Haverford's lone entrant. Sedona Murphy also garnered a fourth seed in the 400 meters. Yue Xiang will run for Haverford in the 200 and 400 meters.
Haverford finished with the highest combined relay team scores at the Centennial Conference Indoor Championships. The Fords are seeded third in the 4x100 relay, sixth in the 4x400 relay and have yet to contest the 4x800 relay this season.
Robin Chernow will be all over the track & field events on Friday as she is one of nine entrants in the heptathlon. Chernow is also seeded eighth in the shot put for the Fords. Claire Sargent is the fifth-ranked thrower in the conference for the shot put. Sargent is also ranked 10th in the discus. Emily Anderson is the fourth seed in the discus throw. She is ranked 11th in the shot put. Natasha Stanley will also contest both the shot put and discus throws.
Elizabeth Reikowski and Carolyn Oehrig both appear to be strong candidates for points in the triple jump with their fifth and seventh seeds, respectively. Kimberly Haughton will also contest the triple jump, while also competing in the long jump.
Haverford placed seventh in the 2014 Centennial Conference Outdoor Championships. However, there is precedence for improvement as the Fords vaulted from sixth to second place when comparing the 2014 indoor championships to this year's team. Haverford has finished in the top three as a team in 17 of the last 21 Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Fords have also crowned at least one individual champion in every year during that stretch.