Centennial Conference Championship Central
HAVERFORD, Pa. – Postseason racing gets underway this Saturday as the No. 27 Haverford College women's cross country team is set to compete at the 2015 Centennial Conference Championship. The conference championship will be hosted by Johns Hopkins with the race being held in Owings Mill, Md.
Saturday's schedule begins with the women's race at 11 a.m. The men will then race at 12 p.m. with the open race to follow at 12:45 p.m. The awards ceremony will take place at approximately 1:30 p.m. for both genders.
The Fords have a strong history of success at the conference championship that includes three team titles and 13 runner-up finishes. Haverford has finished outside of the top three teams just once in the meet's 22 year history. The Fords placed third a year ago, while Johns Hopkins won the race and Dickinson placed second in the team standings. Rival Swarthmore was fourth overall.
Those same four teams appeared poised to battle for those same positions this year as the current Mideast Region rankings also reflect the conference finish of each of those teams a year ago. Muhlenberg is ranked ninth in the Mideast Region to round out the Centennial Conference teams who have impressed this year.
National No. 1 Johns Hopkins comes in as the meet favorites. The unanimous pick as the top team in the country among coaches, the Blue Jays are seven-time defending champions in the meet. Dickinson is ranked 20th in national poll, while Swarthmore is No. 33 in the latest rankings. This weekend's race could very well set the tone for the Mideast Regional where the top two teams get automatic qualifying bids to the NCAA Championship as a team.
Nora Weathers, a two-time second-team All-Centennial Conference runner in cross country, will look to lead the team Saturday. Her best championship finish came with an eighth place showing during the 2013 championship. In her last race this fall, Weathers set a personal best time of 21:29.63. Maggie Heffernan has climbed the individual standings each year at Haverford. The senior will be looking to improve upon a career-best 20th place showing last year.
Nicole Giannetti and Amelia Keyser-Gibson were the team's fifth and sixth finishers at the conference championship in 2014. Those two sophomores appear poised to improve upon their respective 37th and 40th place showings. Katie Sullivan has also been constantly among the team's top runners this fall. She missed last year's championship with an injury.
Four other runners for the Fords bring Centennial Conference Championship experience in to Saturday's race. Molly Allen has run in two conference championships with her best finish of 49th coming last season. Sophomores MaryKate Cavanaugh and Sarah Wade have each improved their 6,000 meters from last year, while Alison Love was 57th in the 2014 championship.