2006 Preview
The 2006 Swarthmore women's cross country team will look to build upon its third place Centennial Conference finish in 2005, a tall order considering the loss of a talented senior class which included Sarah Hobbs, 2004 All-American selection, and two-time All-Centennial selection Carrie Ritter.
The Garnet are fortunate to return a talented group of underclassmen, including Emma Stanley '09 (Fogelsville, PA / Parkland) who was Swarthmore's top finisher at the 2005 Centennial Conference championship meet. Stanley finished eighth at the Conference meet, making second team All-CC and then ran 22nd at the NCAA Regional meet to earn an All Mid-East Region selection, as well, as All-Freshman Region honors. Bess Ritter '09 (Quaker Hill, CT / Waterford), who scored at the NCAA Regional, and Kathy Feeney '09 (Staatsburg, NY / FDR), a top-50 finisher at the Dickinson Long/Short, look to fill the void created by the graduation of the 2006 class. Those three runners, along with expectations accompanying classmate Faith Pampel '09 (Little Silver, NJ / Red Bank Regional) and the experience of veteran runner Pam Davis '07 (Falls Church, VA / JEB Stuart), should be more than enough to get the team started in their quest to contend for the Centennial Conference title.
In the Centennial preseason coaches' poll, the Garnet landed in a tie for fourth with Johns Hopkins, trailing defending champion Dickinson, Haverford, and Franklin & Marshall.
The Garnet open up the 2006 season on Saturday, Sept. 2 vs. Chestnut Hill College at Fort Washington Park, and then will compete in the annual Garnet Alumni Meet a week later. On Sept. 22, the team travels to Haverford College for the Haverford Invitational, facing teams from Villanova, the College of New Jersey, and Elizabethtown. On October 7, the Garnet will run in the Dickinson Long/Short Meet, getting a good look at the course at Carlisle High School, site of the 2006 Centennial Conference Championships on October 28. The Swarthmore women return to the Main Line on October 14 for the annual Seven Sisters Championship hosted by Bryn Mawr, a race the team finished third in 2005.