Top 10 Moments from 2016
Top 10 Moments from 2016
Everyone loves lists, right?
The Centennial Conference Office staff sat down and compiled our list of the Top 10 moments of the 2016 calendar year. We reviewed all 24 championship sports, looked at records, achievements and notable events from each season. We started with a list of nearly 50 moments and whittled them down to 10 - because that's what people do.
So we'll count down from 10 to 1 over the next two weeks and reveal our top moment on Friday, December 30, 2016. We hope you enjoy our list ... and we wish you and your family the happiest of holiday seasons and offer best wishes for a successful 2017!
#1 - Hopkins Women's Cross Country Wins NCAA Gold
The Johns Hopkins women's cross country team won its fourth NCAA National Championships title in five years as a trio of All-Americans, Tess Meehan, Felicia Koerner and Natalia LaSpada, guided the Blue Jays to a 128 point performance, the third best point total in program history.
#2 - Swarthmore's McMenamin Earns NCAA Gold
Swarthmore's Katie Jo McMenamin (Layfatte, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter School) won the 1500-meter at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 4:24.33, a program, Centennial Conference and stadium record.
#3 - Academic Achievements
The following four student-athletes received the highest accolades for their outstanding performances in both athletics and academics.
McDaniel men's swimming standout Brad Brooks (Wilmington, Del./Charter School of Newark) was recongized with the Elite 90 award for the highest GPA among athletes at the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming Championship. Brooks was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team.
Gettysburg's Luke Lawrence (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) of the baseball team was awarded a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was named a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American.
Haverford's Eric Aliendo (Manorville, N.Y./St. Anthony's) of the men's lacrosse team earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Katie Jo McMenamin (Lafayette, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter) of the Swarthmore women's track and cross country team earned a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team.
#4 - Silver Medalists
At the national level, the Centennial Conference had four performances earn second-place finishes in 2016.
Johns Hopkins senior Andrew Bartnett (St. Louis, Mis./John Burroughs School) took home two NCAA Silver medals in 2016. Bartnett took home his second consecutive silver medal in the pole vault at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. At the outdoor championship, he was national runner-up in the decathlon.
Swarthmore's Katie Jo McMenamin (Lafayette, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter) placed second in the 4k race at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
New York Universiry's Nathan Pike (West Covina, Calif./Diamond Bar) was the 133-pound National Runner-Up at the NCAA Divsion III Wrestling Championships.
#5 - Drafted by the MLB
Haverford pitcher Stephen Ridings (Commack, N.Y./St. Anthony's) was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball (MLB). Ridings was selected with the 254th overall pick in the draft. The right-hander is the fourth Ford in the history of the Haverford baseball program to be selected.
#6 - Muhlenberg's Vallely Breaks NCAA Record
Muhlenberg junior women's basketball player Brandi Vallely (Oley Valley, Pa./Oley Valley) recorded a Division III-record five triple-doubles last season – matching the Division III career mark. She was the only player in any of the NCAA's three divisions with more than two triple-doubles on the year.
#7 - Coaching Milestones
Three Centennial Conference coaches hit impressive coaching milestones in 2016. Franklin & Marshall men’s basketball coach Glenn Robinson picked up his 900th career win. Already the most victorious coach in NCAA Division III history, with the victory Robinson joins Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Philadelphia University's Herb Magee and former Indiana University general Bob Knight as the only mens' coaches to win 900 or more NCAA games.
Gettysburg’s Mike Rawleigh recorded his 500th career dual-meet win. Rawleigh has led the Bullets to a combined record of 500-94-2 for an incredible winning percentage of .841. He has guided the women's team to a 277-30-2 record while steering the men's squad to a 223-64 mark. Rawleigh has also directed Gettysburg to 18 undefeated dual-meet seasons, achieving the feat seven times with the men's team and 11 times on the women's side.
Johns Hopkins football coach Jim Margraff earned his 200th career victory with a 42-21 win over Randolph-Macon in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Playoffs. Already the winningest coach in Johns Hopkins and Maryland state history, Margraff now boasts a career record 200-85-3 (.700) and ranks sixth among active Division III coaches in career victories.
#8 - Historic Top-Ten Finishes
Franklin & Marshall’s Stephen Colodny placed fourth and Brad Lankler took sixth at the 2016 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. No other Centennial Conference golfer has finished in the top-10 before.
#9 - NCAA Final Four
The Franklin & Marshall women’s lacrosse team reached the NCAA semifinal before being ousted one game shy of the national championship game. F&M knocked off Mount Union, Brockport and Salisbury to advance to the final four before falling to Trinity. It was F&M’s sixth trip to the national semifinals in the Centennial era.
#10 – Haverford Softball Historic Comeback
The Haverford softball team completed a historic run to the 2016 Centennial Conference Championship with three wins on Championship Sunday. With one win on Saturday and three more on Sunday, the Fords are the first team in Centennial Conference history to drop their first game and run off four straight wins to capture the conference crown.
