HAVERFORD, Pa. - The 14th-ranked Haverford College women's cross country team ran to a second-place finish at the 2012 Centennial Conference Championships held on a modified version of Alumni Course Saturday afternoon.
Johns Hopkins University, ranked second in the country, took the title with a score of 24 points. Earning 87 points, the Fords finished in the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year. Following in third with 101 points was 15th-ranked Dickinson College. Muhlenberg College (123) and Gettysburg College (129) completed the top five.
Sophomore Katie Balmer paced the Haverford effort on the six-kilometer course by finishing in 21 minutes, 56.7 seconds to place 12th. Fiona Hendry (22:05.5) and Chelsea Thorsheim (22:14) followed in 14th and 16th, respectively. Emily Scott (23rd, 22:29.4) and Sara Hess (24th, 22:30.1) rounded out the scoring places as the Fords' top five finished within a 33-second span.
Andrea Tocci (26th, 22:33.5) and Flora Berklein (27th, 22:33.9) also finished within the top-30 of the field of 113 runners.
Hosting the conference championship for the first time, Haverford has now placed in the top-three of the conference for 13 consecutive seasons.
Johns Hopkins' Hannah Oneda earned conference runner of the year honors with her winning time of 21:03.7. All five Blue Jays scorers were within the first nine finishers of the race.
Balmer and Hendry also merited second-team all-conference honors with their performance on Saturday.
Swarthmore College finished sixth to give the Fords a point in the Hood Trophy competition between the two schools. Haverford takes a 2-0 lead in the annual rivalry due to the outcome of the men's and women's cross country results.
The results of the women's junior varsity race mirrored the championship race as the Fords tallied 45 points to take second behind Johns Hopkins with 15 points. Dickinson placed third with 69 points.
Freshman Csilla Vamos led Haverford across the line in sixth with a time of 23:23.1 while Sheera Rosenbaum, Nora Howe and Rachael Potter finished in spots eight through 10. Kelley Riffenburgh capped the Fords' scoring places in 12th. Johns Hopkins' Maggie Hashmall won the race in 22:58.4.
Haverford continues its season at the 2012 NCAA Mideast Regional on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Big Spring Highschool in Newville, Pa. The race, hosted by Dickinson, begins at 11 a.m.
Varsity: team results | individual results
JV: team | individual