Women’s track & field aims for sixth straight conference title

The Haverford College women's indoor track & field team seeks its sixth consecutive and seventh overall Centennial Conference championship when it hosts the conference meet Saturday at Alumni Field House. If the Fords are standing on the top step of the podium at the end of the meet they will join Dickinson College as the only schools in conference history with seven championships to their name.

Getting to the top step will not be easy, but Haverford is primed to get there thanks to a stacked lineup in the sprints, middle-distance and relays.

Christina Neilson is a wily veteran when it comes to winning conference championships. She has two individual indoor titles in her career along with a number of relays, as well. Going into Saturday's meet she has the fastest times in the conference in the 55, 200 and 400 meter dashes. Adding to Neilson's presence in those events are Zoe Welch and Kimberly Carlomagno who are in the top-10 in the 55 and 200 while Carlomagno and Hannah Davis are eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 400.

Nicole Inman and Sara Hess will be counted on to supply points in the middle-distance events. Inman has the fifth-fastest time in the 800 while Hess is fourth in the mile run.

The Fords have always excelled in the relays and this year should be no different. The 4x400 relay team of Davis, Neilson, Welch and Carlomagno ran the fastest time in the conference (4:01.64) and set a school record last Saturday. The quartet also pushed the 4x200 relay team to the second fastest time this season and trail Ursinus College by tenths-of-a-second. Last season Welch, Neilson and Carlomagno helped the 4x200 to the Centennial title and with the addition of Davis hope to make it two straight. Haverford will also look to its distance medley relay team to score points. The team of Rachel Potter, Cara Keifer, Mary Morgan and Kara McMahon bested Swarthmore College by five seconds last Saturday, running the second-fastest time in the conference, and they hope to gain ground on Johns Hopkins University this Saturday.

Haverford will also lean on a couple of field events to produce points. A trio in the long jump should provide quality performances as Kylie Lipinski, Welch and Emma Kornetsky are second through fourth, respectively, this season in the Centennial. Haley Lowrance is third in the shot put and figures to improve upon her best throw of the season which came earlier this month at home.

If the aforementioned individuals and relay teams can perform up to or exceed expectations Saturday then the Fords would be in a good position for that seventh conference title. The excitement gets underway at 10:30 a.m. and concludes with the awards ceremony at 6:15 p.m.