LANCASTER, Pa. – Twelve-time defending champion Johns Hopkins has been selected as the unanimous favorite to take home the conference trophy in the 2021 Centennial Conference Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll. The Blue Jays received all nine possible first-place votes and tallied 81 points in voting among the conference head coaches. 

Dickinson was picked to place second with 73 points and the other first-place vote, while Swarthmore (58) edged Haverford (55) for third in the voting. 

Ursinus took fifth with 40 points, followed by Franklin & Marshall (37), Gettysburg (35), Bryn Mawr (30), Muhlenberg (28), and McDaniel (13) in sixth through 10th place, respectively. 

The 2021 campaign begins on Wednesday, Sept. 1 for seven of the 10 Centennial squads, with all 10 teams opening their seasons by Saturday, Sept. 4. The Centennial Conference Championship meet is set for Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Center for Maryland Agriculture and Farm Park in Cockeysville, Md., with Johns Hopkins serving as host. 

2021 Schedule | 2019 Results | 2019 Championship Results | 2019 All-Centennial Team | Record Book

Defending national champion Johns Hopkins and 2019 individual third-place finisher Isabel Cardi of Dickinson headline what figures to be yet another strong season for Centennial Conference women's cross country. 

When last competing in 2019, Johns Hopkins captured its sixth national title with a 13-point victory over Washington University-St. Louis, avenging a one-point defeat to the Bears from 2018. No team has had more success over the past decade than the Blue Jays, who have won three of the last four national championships and six total since 2012. The Blue Jays haven't finished lower than fourth since 2011 and their six NCAA Championships are tied for second-most in Division III history behind SUNY Cortland's seven.

JHU received All-America performances from Samantha Levy (17th), Rebecca Grusby (21st) and Ariel Keklak (23rd) to run away with the 2019 national crown. Kristin Meek and Katharine Priu also contributed to the team score for the Blue Jays. Priu, the 2019 Mideast Regional runner-up, CC Rookie of the Year and second-team All-CC honoree, is joined by Stephanie Brown as returning all-region and all-conference performers for Hopkins. 

Led by Cardi's third-place individual finish, Dickinson placed ninth at 2019 nationals, marking the first time in conference history that two CC teams finished in the top 10 nationally. 

Cardi's superb showing at nationals capped an incredible season in which she also won the Mideast Regional and CC individual crowns, and earned CC Runner of the Year accolades. Cardi became the ninth Dickinson runner to win CC Runner of the Year and the sixth-straight and 16th overall Centennial runner to win the regional meet. Her third-place finish at nationals was tied for second-best in conference history. Dickinson's Cait Bradley was the national runner-up in 2006, while JHU's Ellie Clawson also placed third back in 2017. This fall, Cardi will aim to become the seventh runner in CC history to win multiple individual conference titles and just the second runner to capture multiple CC and regional championships in a career. 

Cardi, Priu, and Brown are three of seven returners that have earned all-conference or all-region accolades, with Haverford's Griffin Kaulbach (2019 all-region) Swarthmore's Emma Novak (2019 2nd team All-CC, 2019 all-region) and Nora Blodgett (2019 all-region), and Muhlenberg's Abby Dalton (2019 2nd team) also back in the fold this fall. 

2021 Centennial Conference Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll