August 18, 2007
2007 Women's Cross Country Outlook;
Haverford Picked Second in Centennial Preseason Poll

HAVERFORD, PA - The Haverford women's cross country team was picked second in the Centennial Conference preseason poll released this week. Head coach Fran Rizzo's squad totaled 71 points, with one first-place vote in the poll. The Fords are second behind Dickinson, who led the polls with 81 points and nine first place votes and have won seven straight Centennial championships.

"The conference is always tough and should be a lot stronger this season," remarked coach Rizzo. "Dickinson has always been a Centennial power and Swarthmore and John Hopkins should also be contenders." Johns Hopkins (64 points) and Swarthmore (58 points) were picked third and fourth in the preseason poll, respectively.

Haverford lost 2006 senior captain Maxine Markfield from last year's varsity top seven, but coach Rizzo fully expects 2007 seniors Jane Weber, Annick Lamar and Emma Lo to collectively fill Markfield's void. "Weber, Lamar and Lo were All-Region and All-Conference runners and they will be the leaders on the team," says Rizzo.

Coach Rizzo is hopeful that all of the seniors on the team (in addition to Weber, Lamar and Lo) will push the rest of the team to its maximum potential. "We are a senior dominated team and if we are to accomplish all of our goals; we need the rest of the seniors to step up and lead."

Juniors Darian Lunne and Lena Edelstein should also be solid contributors to the 2007 team after gaining experience in last year's top five as sophomore's.

Rizzo has the utmost confidence in his team for the upcoming year, giving a lot of credit to his student-athletes relentless work ethic and willingness to become the best they can be through hard training.

"Summer training is very important to our success this fall. It appears as though it has been a real good summer of training for our team," noted Rizzo.

Haverford will be looking to return to the Division III NCAA Championships for the fourth time in five years in 2007. Weber helped Haverford to a 24th place finish as a team in 2006 at the NCAA's, placing a team-best 103rd out of 271 runners.

Haverford will run its first intercollegiate race on September 20th at 5:30 p.m. with a home quad-meet against Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore.