No. 26 Women's Cross Country Set to Host 2014 Centennial Championship

Posted: Oct 30, 2014

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The postseason begins Saturday for the No. 26 Haverford College women's cross country team as the 2014 Centennial Conference Championship returns to the Alumni Cross Country Course this weekend. The Fords have won three Centennial Conference Championships in program history.

Haverford's last Centennial Conference Championship on the women's side came during the 1996 season which capped a streak that saw the Fords win those three conference championships in a span of four years. Over the past 21 years, the Fords have finished as the runner-up 13 times. That stretch includes each of the past three seasons. The Fords have finished outside of the top three just once in the past 21 seasons, a fourth-place finish at the 1999 championship.

The latest Mideast Regional rankings that were released last week indicate that this weekend's Centennial Conference Championship will provide a firm test of the competition that the Fords will face in the regional championship as four of the top five teams in the region will be represented this weekend.

Leading that group, and the national rankings, is six-time defending Centennial champion Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays are currently receiving all eight first-place votes in the national poll. Haverford, Dickinson and Swarthmore are ranked third, fourth and fifth in the region, respectively. The Fords are No. 26 in the national poll, while Dickinson (No. 28) and Swarthmore (RV) are also on the national radar.

Haverford returns four of its top five runners from last season's runner-up squad. Highlighting that list are a pair of second-team All-Centennial Conference selections in Nora Weathers (eighth in 2013) and Charlotte Lellman (ninth in 2013). Kelley Riffenburgh and Maggie Heffernan also return after placing 13th and 22nd, respectively, at the 2013 championship.

Saturday's schedule gets underway with the men's race at 11 a.m. The women will follow that race as they are schedule to get started at noon. There will also be a combined gender JV race at 12:45 p.m. A live stream of the finish line will be available through the link above.