2019 Centennial Conference Preseason Poll
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's cross country team has been predicted for a fourth-place team finish in the Centennial Conference preseason poll after a vote of the conference's head coaches. The Fords garnered 60 voting points in the poll and were just edged out of the third position by rival Swarthmore as the Garnet received 62 voting points.
Haverford is coming off of a third-place finish at the 2018 Centennial Conference Championship. The Fords tied Swarthmore at the conference meet among its top five scorers but were awarded the third-place finish after the Fords had the higher placing sixth runner between the two schools. Haverford also defeated the Garnet at the NCAA Mideast Regional during which Hannah Doll qualified for the NCAA Championship as an individual by virtue of her individual finish.
Johns Hopkins was the unanimous choice among the conference's head coaches as the preseason favorite while Dickinson came in second during the preseason voting. Following Swarthmore and Haverford, Gettysburg rounded out to the top five teams in the poll.
Doll's appearance at the NCAA Championships for the second straight season concluded a postseason in which she also earned second-team All-Centennial Conference and All-Mideast Region honors before finishing 141st at the national championship. Although Haverford graduates its second and third finishers from the 2018 conference championship in last year's captains Sophie Drew '19 and Julia Smith '19, the Fords will have plenty of depth and experience to build off of as 10 of their 12 runners who competed in the Centennial Conference Championship varsity meet a year ago return to this year's squad.
In addition to Doll, Griffin Kaulbach and Mckenna Krall were the team's other scoring runners a season ago at the conference meet while Izzy Miller and Jolie Jaycobs rounded out the team's top seven. Jaycobs and fellow senior Zoe Arditi will serve as captains of the 2019 cross country team. Haverford has additional returning NCAA experience from both Hannah Yeakey and Krall as both runners competed at nationals when the Fords qualified as a team during the 2017 season.
Haverford has qualified for the NCAA Championships as a team during three of the last four seasons and 13 times in the last 17 years. The Fords have finished first or second at the Centennial Conference Championship meet 17 times in the 26 year history of the conference, taking home the conference crown in 1993, 1995, and 1996. The team has finished outside of the top three just once.
The 2019 season gets underway with an exhibition Haverford Open on Saturday, August 31 before the Alumnae Open on Saturday, September 7. Haverford's first time running against other teams will come on Friday, September 20 at the Main Line Invitational. The 2019 Centennial Conference Championship will be hosted by Gettysburg and is set for Saturday, November 2.