CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Haverford College women's cross country team placed fourth at the NCAA Mideast Regional on Saturday afternoon. The Fords, who were ranked sixth in the region entering the meet, had a pair of All-Mideast Regional performers and kept themselves in position to potentially be selected for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships.
The top two teams from the Centennial Conference Championship, Johns Hopkins (36 points) and Dickinson (79 points), were once again first and second on the regional stage. Carnegie Mellon (137 points) took home the third spot in the team standings, while Haverford (244 points) edged Misericordia (250 points) for fourth place.
Hannah Doll led the Fords to the finish line with a 16th place showing in a time of 23:28. Doll, an NCAA qualifier a season ago, put herself in a very favorable position to make it back to the national stage this fall as she was the eighth runner across the line not from the top two teams. That means that if Carnegie Mellon would be selected to the NCAA Championships, which is a very strong possibility as it will be the first team off the board from this region, Doll would advance to the NCAA meet by virtue of being the fifth individual finisher outside of those top three teams.
Senior captain Sophie Drew was also named to the All-Mideast Region team following her 21st place finish in a time of 23:44. Drew's finish marked a 25 spot improvement from her junior campaign. Griffin Kaulbach was the third Haverford runner across the line as she placed 52nd in a time of 24:32.
Haverford's final four finishers all came across in short order. Izzy Miller (24:51) and Mckenna Krall (24:55) were the Fords' final two scorers. Miller placed 76th in her regional debut, while Krall improved eight spots from her place a year ago as she finished in 79th overall. Captain Julia Smith (25:02) and Jolie Jaycobs (25:11) placed 84th and 92nd, respectively, in their regional debuts.
Women's cross country will now await the announcement of at-large bids to the NCAA Championships. Those bids will be announced tomorrow at 3 p.m. via an NCAA.com press release. Sixteen at-large team bids are available across the eight regional sites. Teams must get picked in the order which they finished at the regional meet. If Carnegie Mellon gets selected, Hannah Doll will represent the Fords at nationals. If Haverford is selected, all seven Fords would be eligible to compete at the NCAA Division III Championships next Saturday in Wisconsin.