HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's cross country team has qualified for the NCAA Championship seven times in the past eight seasons. Coming off of a 23rd place finish, the Fords have plenty of reason for continued optimism as they return all seven of their athletes who competed at the national championship last fall.
Six of the returners from the NCAA meet in 2016 will be entering their senior campaigns as they look to propel Haverford up the team rankings. Katie Sullivan – a two-time NCAA qualifier, two-time All-Mideast Region, and two-time second-team All-Centennial Conference selection – headlines those returners. She placed 52nd at the NCAA Championships last fall with Haverford's fastest ever time at the 6,000 meter distance (21:38.4). Sullivan is a three-time All-American between the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons.
Four other seniors will be looking to make their third appearance at the NCAA Championship. Nicole Giannetti turned in her best NCAA cross country performance with a 135th place finish last year. The reigning Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year in cross country, Giannetti's best time of her career came at the conference championships last fall when she crossed the line in a time of 21:58.7. Amelia Keyser-Gibson had the highest finish at the NCAAs among her teammates as she was 46th during the 2015 season. She is also a two-time All-Mideast Region performer.
Seniors Sarah Wade and MaryKate Cavanaugh are also two-year qualifiers on the team. Both runners hit their peak in the postseason last year with Wade as the team's fourth finisher in a time of 22:46.0 to place 213th. Cavanaugh ran her personal best time of 22:39.1 at the Centennial Conference Championship. Alison Love made her first appearance at the NCAA Championships last fall and turned in a personal best time of 23:45.5. She will join Keyser-Gibson and Giannetti as captains of this year's team. Fellow seniors Liana Alves has a personal best time of 25:25.0 which she set at last year's conference meet while Amy Zamora will join the cross country squad for the first time this fall after competing solely in track during her first three years.
Abe Doroshow was Haverford's final scoring runner at the Mideast Regional and NCAA Championship last year, turning in a personal best time of 22:51.1 to place 221st at the national meet. Nine more sophomores will be looking to make an even bigger impact on the program during their second season at Haverford. Mckenna Krall holds the fastest 6,000 meter time in her class as she crossed the finish line in 23:54.5 at Rowan during the 2016 season. Jolie Jaycobs, Zoe Arditi, and Mariana Ramirez each broke the 26 minute mark in their rookie seasons, while Michelle Luu is just seconds from joining her teammates in that venture. Alison Champagne only competed in three mile races a season ago while Kathryn Correia, Sadie Kenyon-Dean, Carlotta Pazzi, and Daisy Zhan will all look to run their first cross country races during their sophomore seasons.
Juniors Sophie Drew and Julia Smith are the lone representatives from their class, but both have been hovering around the 24 minute mark and will look to break through those personal bests this fall. Drew finally broke that mark with a time of 23:57.1 at Rowan in 2016 while Smith crossed the line at the 24:14.4 mark during that same day.
Even with the strong lineup in the senior class, the Fords have plenty of youth waiting in the wings. In addition to the nine sophomores, seven first-year runners join the program this fall: Amalia Axinn, Hannah Doll, Molly Hawkins, Griffin Kaulbach, Angie Petrichenko, Kat Turner, and Hannah Yeakey.
The 2017 season will be head coach Fran Rizzo's 28th leading the Fords. A three-time conference champion in cross country, Rizzo's cross country teams has made it to the NCAA Championship as a team during 16 different seasons and have had 13 All-American performances in the fall. Looking to have an All-American in cross country for the first time since 2012, Haverford opens the season with the Alumnae Open and Main Line Invitational after the Haverford Open on September 2. Gettysburg will serve as host of the Centennial Conference Championship while conference rival Dickinson will host the Mideast Regional. Elsah, Illinois will be the site of the 2017 NCAA Division Cross Country Championships. The Fords were third in the conference last year and fifth in the regional before earning an at-large bid to the national championship meet.