August 15, 2007
Haverford Men's Cross Country Picked as 2007 Centennial Preseason Favorite

LANCASTER, PA – Head coach Tom Donnelly's Haverford men's cross country team is predicted to win the 2007 Centennial Conference men's cross country title. The Fords were picked first in the Centennial Conference's annual preseason poll of head coaches, receiving all eight first-place votes for 64 points, and are looking to capture their 15th straight title since the inception of the Centennial.

Last season, Haverford got a first-place finish at the Centennial Championships from graduated All-American Zach Vaslow.

"We obviously will feel the loss of Zach Vaslow, who was both our leader (as captain), an All-American and Centennial Conference champion," says coach Donnelly.

However, Haverford's returning runners, senior Don Letts, sophomore Andrew Lanham and junior Taylor Burmeister, finished 2-3-5, respectively at the conference championships in 2006.

The third-place effort by Lanham in last year's CC Championship tied Karl Paranya (1994) for the highest conference finish by a Fords freshman since Mike Sheely won the MAC race in 1978. Returning senior Jamie Jablin and junior Mark Burgmann earned second team All-Centennial honors last year finishing in 9th and 14th places, respectively.

The Fords will be welcoming back another senior leader to help close the hole that comes with Vaslow's graduation.

"We are very lucky be able to replace him (Vaslow), to some extent, with senior Ian-Ramsey North."

Ramsey-North is returning to the Fords team in 2007 after spending the 2006 fall season abroad. As a junior in 2005, Ramsey-North was one-half of Haverford's first All-America duo with Grant Scott, placing 29th (26:15.9) at the NCAA Division III Championships. Ramsey-North was the 2005 Centennial champion (25:38) and finished second at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional (25:31.3).

"Ian, combined with Don Letts, gives us two All-Americans in cross country," noted Donnelly.

Letts earned All-America recognition last year as a junior, placing 14th in 27:22 at the D-III Championships.

"Don and Ian will be co-captains and possibly our best one-two combination ever in cross country."

Coach Donnelly is excited not only about Ramsey-North and Letts, but for the team as a whole in 2007.

"When you combine them (Ramsey-North and Letts) with returning All-Region runners Jamie Jablin, Taylor Burmeister, Mark Burgmann and Andrew Lanham, it gives us a solid foundation for a very strong team," noted Donnelly.

Coach Donnelly, never satisfied with having only a handful of highly competitive runners, expects the whole team to be highly competitive. "I fully expect to see at least a few contenders for the top seven spots on the team coming from all four classes," says Donnelly.

"It's going to be an interesting and fun season."

With such tremendous talent and depth from top to bottom, its no wonder coach Donnelly is looking forward to what 2007 has in store.