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The 22nd annual Centennial Conference cross country championship gets underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Haverford College. And, as in recent years, it looks like a three-team race for the team title.

Dickinson, Haverford and Johns Hopkins are the only teams to capture a Centennial men's crown and the trio are all ranked in the USTFCCCA Division III top 35 this week. The Fords are the highest ranked team, coming in at #14 nationally and first in the Mideast Region. The Red Devils are second in the region and 18th in the nation, while defending champ Johns Hopkins is third regionally and 26th nationally. Swarthmore also appears in the regional rankings at No. 6.

Haverford has won 18 of 21 Centennial titles, but struggled to a third-place finish a year ago - the Fords' lowest finish ever in a CC meet. Dickinson has not finished lower than second since 2006, winning in 2008 and 2009. Johns Hopkins won its first Conference championship last fall at McDaniel with the smallest winning margin in history (34-39). Swarthmore has placed fourth in three of the past four meets.

Two first-team All-Centennial runners (finished in the top seven) from 2013 return in Johns Hopkins junior Spencer Ochstein (Dallas, Texas), the 2012 Centennial Rookie of the Year, and Blue Jay senior Austin Stecklair (West Chester, Pa.), who placed fifth and seventh, respectively. Haverford senior Joel Christian (Towanda, Pa.) earned first-team honors in 2012, placing fourth on his home course.

Other runners to watch for the individual title include Dickinson seniors Nick Stender (Chicago, Ill.) and Mark Weinhoffer (Meyersville, Pa.), Haverford junior Charlie Marquardt (Pasadena, Calif.), Hopkins' sophomore Stefan Arnold (San Antonio, Texas), Swarthmore soph Sid Kakkar (Port Washington, N.Y.), Franklin & Marshall senior Bryan Andrews (Exton, Pa.), Gettysburg soph Ben Taber (Durham, Conn.), McDaniel senior Peter Merkel (Ellicott City, Md.), Muhlenberg soph Jaryd Flank (Easton, Pa.), and Ursinus junior Andrew Mackin (Bryn Mawr, Pa.).

You can watch the finish of the men's championship race on CentennialConference.TV beginning at 11:15.