HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's cross country team turned in its best Centennial Conference Championships finish in three years Saturday morning, placing fourth among 10 teams as the conference's top runners converged on the beautiful Fran Rizzo Cross Country Course at Haverford College. Senior Alice Sappenfield highlighted the effort for the Scarlet and Black, earning second-team All-Centennial Conference honors with a 14th-place individual finish.
The Scarlet and Black totaled 103 points to secure their highest conference finish since also placing fourth at the 2023 championships. Haverford finished just 11 points behind third-place Franklin & Marshall (92), while holding off fifth-place Dickinson (137) by 34 points.
No. 5 Johns Hopkins captured the conference championship with 23 points, placing five runners among the top nine scoring positions. Swarthmore finished second with 53 points, followed by Franklin & Marshall and Haverford to round out the top four.
Sappenfield led the way for the Fords, completing the six-kilometer course in 22 minutes, 24.2 seconds to secure second-team All-Centennial Conference recognition with her standout performance on the Fords' home course.
Sappenfield was followed closely by fellow senior Anastasia Jaycobs, who crossed the finish line in 17th place with a time of 22:41.7. The senior duo provided a strong foundation for Haverford's scoring effort, with both runners finishing among the top 20 competitors in the championship field.
Senior Grace Chen was the next Ford across the line, placing 31st overall in 23:23.0. First-year Rylee Diller followed immediately behind in 32nd place, clocking a time of 23:23.1, just one-tenth of a second behind Chen.
Junior Maia Poremba completed Haverford's scoring five with a 34th-place finish in 23:29.7. The tight grouping of Chen, Diller and Poremba proved instrumental in securing fourth place, as the trio crossed the finish line within 6.7 seconds of one another.
Senior Poppy Chrisman finished 40th overall in 23:46.8, while first-year Aaralyn Julian rounded out Haverford's top seven with a 43rd-place showing in 23:58.1.
The Fords also received contributions from first-year Charlotte Yanke (50th, 24:16.6), sophomore Keiko Chinen (57th, 24:33.2) and sophomore Madeline Ruchelman (69th, 25:04.8).
Senior Claire Parsons finished 88th in 26:08.6, followed by first-year Hala Mohammad in 100th (26:37.4) and senior Judy Xie in 112th (28:09.1).
Johns Hopkins junior Carter Brotherton captured the individual conference championship, covering the six-kilometer course in 21:12.4. Teammate Alexia Tubbs finished second in 21:29.7, while Franklin & Marshall's Tara Silverman placed third in 21:38.4.
Haverford's fourth-place showing marked a two-position improvement from its sixth-place finish at the 2025 Centennial Conference Championships and represented the program's strongest conference result since 2023.
The Fords will now turn their attention to the NCAA Metro Regional Championships, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, in Bethlehem, Pa. The women's six-kilometer race is slated to begin at 11 a.m., as Haverford looks to carry its momentum from the conference championships into regional competition.
