HAVERFORD, Pa. – Coming off its best Centennial Conference Championships finish in three years, the Haverford College women's cross country team heads to Bethlehem, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 14, looking to continue its postseason progress at the NCAA Division III Metro Regional Championships. Moravian University hosts the regional at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus Cross Country Course, with the women's six-kilometer race scheduled for 11 a.m. Ranked fourth in the Metro Region, the Fords bring an experienced senior contingent and a promising group of first-years into a championship field with NCAA qualification on the line.
In the Rankings
Haverford enters the weekend ranked No. 4 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Metro Region rankings, released Nov. 3. Swarthmore holds the top position, followed by TCNJ and Rowan, with Haverford and Moravian completing the top five. The Fords' regional standing follows a fourth-place performance at the Centennial Conference Championships, where Haverford improved two positions from its 2025 finish. The Scarlet and Black enter outside the national rankings in both the Nov. 4 USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll and D3 Glory Days' Oct. 21 post-interregional rankings, with Saturday providing an opportunity to make their strongest statement of the season.
A Championship Tradition
Haverford captured the inaugural Metro Regional team championship in 2021, securing the first regional title in program history before finishing 24th at the NCAA Championships. The Fords' postseason tradition also includes a 10th-place national finish in 1993 and an 11th-place showing in 1996, along with numerous individual NCAA qualifiers and All-Americans. This year's squad will look to build on consecutive seventh-place regional finishes in 2024 and 2025. Last fall, Haverford totaled 198 points at DREAM Park in New Jersey, placing all seven runners among the top 100 in a field featuring 24 teams. Five members of that regional lineup return among this year's entries, giving the Fords valuable experience navigating a championship field.
Looking at the Fords
Haverford's regional entry list includes seniors Grace Chen, Poppy Chrisman, Anastasia Jaycobs and Alice Sappenfield; junior Maia Poremba; and first-years Rylee Diller, Aaralyn Julian and Charlotte Yanke. Head coach Annick Lamar's eight-runner contingent includes each of the Fords' top eight finishers from the Centennial Conference Championships. Sappenfield leads the group into the weekend after earning second-team All-Centennial recognition with a 14th-place finish in 22:24.2 at the Fran Rizzo Cross Country Course at Haverford College. The senior's performance added another distinction to a career that includes the 2023 Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year award and All-Metro Region honors in both 2023 and 2024.
Sappenfield will pursue a third All-Region performance after placing 29th at the 2024 regional in 23:28.0. Her ability to establish a strong position near the front of Haverford's pack will be an important part of the Fords' effort Saturday. Jaycobs gives Haverford another experienced runner with All-Region credentials. The senior earned that recognition with a 34th-place finish in 2024 and followed with a 37th-place showing in 23:15.0 at last year's regional. Jaycobs finished 17th at the Centennial Championships in 22:41.7, joining Sappenfield among the top 20. She also led Haverford at the Main Line Invitational in September, placing 33rd in 18:49.8 against a field featuring substantial Division I competition.
Chen brings two previous regional appearances into her senior postseason. She placed 38th in her regional debut in 2024 and improved to 40th in a faster time of 23:18.2 last fall. Her experience gives Haverford another proven contributor behind its leading pair. At the conference championships, Chen finished 31st in 23:23.0, just one-tenth of a second ahead of Diller in 32nd. Poremba followed in 34th at 23:29.7, putting Haverford's third through fifth finishers within 6.7 seconds of one another. Maintaining that close grouping could help the Fords limit scoring gaps in Saturday's larger field. Chrisman finished 40th at the conference meet in 23:46.8, followed by Julian in 43rd at 23:58.1 and Yanke in 50th at 24:16.6.
The first-year contingent has already made meaningful contributions this fall. In addition to Diller's scoring performance at the conference championships, Julian led Haverford at its home invitational on Oct. 23, placing 21st in 19:40.2 over five kilometers as the top Division III finisher. Yanke followed in 26th at 20:04.3, helping the Fords finish fourth behind Division I Penn and Villanova as well as Division II Jefferson.
The Regional Field
Defending regional champion Swarthmore enters atop the Metro rankings after finishing second at the Centennial Conference Championships. The Garnet scored 53 points behind Johns Hopkins and placed three runners among the top 10. TCNJ and Rowan offer another competitive matchup after finishing just five points apart at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships. TCNJ claimed the conference crown and holds the region's No. 2 ranking, while Rowan, the 2024 Metro champion, sits third. Host Moravian rounds out the top five following a fourth-place finish at the Landmark Conference Championships. Haverford arrives with momentum after scoring 103 points at the Centennial meet, finishing 11 behind third-place Franklin & Marshall and 34 ahead of Dickinson. With experienced leaders and an increasingly productive supporting pack, the Fords will look to carry that progress into another postseason test.
The Road Ahead
Saturday's regional team champion earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championships, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21, at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. Live results and entry information are available through Leone Timing, with additional meet information available on Moravian's Regional Central.
