GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Haverford Women's Cross Country team heads to Gettysburg on Saturday, November 1 for the 32nd annual Centennial Conference Women's Cross Country Championship, looking to build on a strong showing at the Rowan Border Battle earlier this month.
The championship, hosted by Gettysburg College, begins with the men's race at 11 a.m. followed by the women's race at noon. The field features five regionally ranked squads, including nationally third-ranked Johns Hopkins, which sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Region. Haverford enters ranked No. 3 in the Metro Region, joined by Swarthmore (No. 4 Metro), Gettysburg (No. 4 Mid-Atlantic), and Dickinson (No. 10 Mid-Atlantic) among the ranked contenders.
The Fords, who have claimed three Centennial titles in program history with their most recent in 1996, last appeared on the national stage in 2021, finishing 24th at the NCAA Championships that season. At Rowan, junior Alice Sappenfield led the way for Haverford, clocking 22:45.6 to help the team secure its best Border Battle finish since 2021. The Fords placed fourth among Division III programs and seventh overall in a field of 31, edging conference rival Swarthmore. Sappenfield was closely followed by Anastasia Jaycobs (22:46.7), Savannah Shaw (22:55.6), Jessie Hausman (23:04.1), and Grace Chen (23:12.7), rounding out a tightly packed top five that showcased Haverford's depth. Additional contributions came from Maia Poremba, Keiko Chinen, Poppy Chrisman, Madeline Ruchelman, and Bianca Ortiz, who all factored into the team's balanced performance in South Jersey.
Haverford's declared entrants for the Centennial Championships include Audrey Carter, Grace Chen, Keiko Chinen, Poppy Chrisman, Sophia Furman, Jessie Hausman, Anastasia Jaycobs, Bianca Ortiz, Claire Parsons, Maia Poremba, Madeline Ruchelman, Alice Sappenfield, Savannah Shaw, Dalia Smid, and Judy Xie.
Following the Centennial Conference Championships, Haverford will turn its focus to the Metro Regional Championship at DREAM Park in Logan Township, New Jersey on November 15, where teams will compete for bids to the NCAA Division III National Championships in, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
