Championship Website | Championship History | Live Results | 2021 Season Results
The 28th annual Centennial Conference men's cross country championship is set for Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Center for Maryland Agriculture and Farm Park in Cockeysville, Md, hosted by Johns Hopkins. JHU will host the CC championships for the first time since 2015 and fourth time overall. The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 11 a.m., with the women's 6,000-meter run to follow at 12 p.m.
At the most recent Centennial championship in 2019, Johns Hopkins notched the first perfect score in the history of the event (15 points), sweeping the top five placings and securing eight of the top 14 positions as the Blue Jays ran away with their second conference title in program history. The previous record-low team score at the CC Championship was 16 points, a score posted by Dickinson in 2009.
The Blue Jays' victory snapped a five-year title run for Haverford, which owns the most team titles in conference history with 23. The Fords, Hopkins (2) and Dickinson (2) are the only three teams to secure CC crowns in men's cross country.
Three CC teams enter this Saturday's championship in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings, with Johns Hopkins (21), Haverford (22) and Dickinson (35) earning national recognition. Meanwhile, seven teams are ranked regionally, with CC teams now split up into two different regions with regional realignment taking effect this fall. In the Metro region, Haverford (1), Swarthmore (5) and Ursinus (9) are ranked, while Hopkins (2), Dickinson (3), Gettysburg (7), and Franklin & Marshall (10) earned rankings in the Mid-Atlantic. As evidenced by the national and regional rankings, a number of Centennial teams have put together impressive campaigns thus far.
Individually, two All-Centennial runners are back in the field this year - Dickinson's Christopher Scharf and Haverford's Ryan Kredell, who finished eighth and ninth at the 2019 championship, respectively. Kredell was also named Rookie of the Year in 2019. While this year's event may not have a lengthy list of all-conference returners, there will be no shortage of talented runners in the field.
JHU's Matthew Kleiman has led the Blue Jays in three events this fall, earning a trio of CC Runner of the Week awards. Kredell and Max Brelig have paced Haverford, earning the top two placings for the Fords in each event in which they have competed. Dickinson's duo of twin brothers Christopher Scharf and Charles Scharf have led the way for the Red Devils, with Christopher having secured a trio of individuals victories.
Individuals on other teams around the conference to watch out for this Saturday include F&M's Alex Fillman, Gettysburg's Dylan McKeever and Connor Elliott, Swarthmore's Aidan Cantine, McDaniel's Wyatt Farace, Muhlenberg's Pat Smurla, and Ursinus' Giles Daly.