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Women's Cross Country Places Second at Centennial Championship

Women's Cross Country Places Second at Centennial Championship

OWINGS Mill, Md. – Behind a pair of All-Centennial  Conference performances and two more runners that just missed All-CC accolades, the Haverford College women'cross country team ran to a second place finish at the Centennial Conference Championships. The runner-up finish is the Fords' fourth in the past five seasons and 14th overall since joining the conference.

Johns Hopkins repeated as conference champions with a score of 19 points. The Fords' score of 69 points edged nationally-ranked Dickinson (75 points) and Swarthmore (95 points). These second through fourth place teams have been battling all year long for the second slot in the regional rankings.

A first-team All-Centennial Conference performance from Katie Sullivan led the team to the finish line. Sullivan placed sixth overall in her first appearance at the conference championships. She finished in a time of 22:08.2, just 34 seconds behind the overall champion. Nora Weathers earned second-team All-Centennial Conference honors for the third time in her career. She matched her career best finish at the conference meet with an eighth place performance in a time of 22:11.7.

Amelia Keyser-Gibson and Maggie Heffernan just missed all-conference accolades with their respective 15th and 16th place finishes. Keyser-Gibson completed the course in a time of 22:43.1. She was followed closely by Heffernan, who was just four-tenths a second behind her teammate in 16th place. MaryKate Cavanaugh was the team's fifth scorer with a personal best time of 23:16.2. She scored 24 points with her 27th place showing to cap Haverford's team score.

Nicole Giannetti and Sarah Wade were the squad's sixth and seventh finishers. Giannetti placed 55th overall with a time of 24:17.7. Wade finished 57th overall with a time of 24:23.4. Molly Allen (24:38.5) and Caroline Henry (25:07.6) were among the top 70 finishers were their 64th and 68th place showings.

Julia Smith (25:18.1) and Sophia Drew (25:19.2) came in just behind Allen. Smith and Drew placed 71st and 72nd with in their conference championship debuts. Allison Hacker (26:13.1) rounded out the team's contingent with a 79th place mark.

Women's cross country now appears poised to battle these same teams for the two automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Championships in two weeks at the Mideast Regional. The Mideast regional, which will be run in Newville, Pa., is set for Saturday, November 14. The women's race will be run at 11 a.m. on that day.