HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's indoor track & field team has been picked for a fourth place finish in the Centennial Conference preseason poll. The Fords garnered 57 voting points among the conference's head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Defending champion Johns Hopkins was a unanimous choice to repeat while Dickinson garnered the other first-place vote and finished second in the poll with 67 points. Swarthmore (65 points) and Ursinus (55 points) joined the Fords in rounding out the top five.
Haverford's fourth place position in the poll matches where the Fords finished a year ago as the team collected 83 points at the conference's indoor championship last winter. The Fords have won six Centennial Conference Team Championships during the first 26 years of the conference and have been first or second in 19 of those championship meets.
Headlining Haverford's list of returning athletes is USTFCCCA All-Mideast Region performer Jessica Lopez. Lopez, who will return to the team in the spring after spending her fall semester studying abroad, was second at the indoor championships in the 60 meters, 200 meters, and triple jump along with joining the runner-up 4x200 meter relay. Three legs of that 4x200 relay return as Naomi Fukuda and Jasmine Reed rejoin the team for their sophomore campaigns.
Relays were an overall strength of the Fords a season ago as the 4x800 meter relay returns the trio of Griffin Kaulbach, Jolie Jaycobs, and Molly Hawkins from its runner-up finish last winter. The distance medley relay returns three of its four legs from a third-place performance, while the 4x400 placed fourth last year and returns each of those runners from the conference championship. In addition to Lopez as a medalist in the field events, Fiona Flynn (long jump) and Unique Tuberville (weight throw) were also bronze medalists during last year's indoor championship. Tuberville is the school record holder in the weight throw during the indoor season.
The indoor track & field season gets underway on Saturday, December 7 as the Fords host the Haverford Holiday Meet which is slated for a 10:30 a.m. start inside the Alumni Field House in what will be the only meet of the fall semester. The 2020 Centennial Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships are slated for Saturday, February 29 and Sunday, March 1 at Franklin & Marshall.