LANCASTER, Pa. – The Ursinus College Women's Track and Field team was slotted in fourth in the Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field preseason poll, announced by the conference on Wednesday.

Leading the way was 11-time defending champion Johns Hopkins who received nine of the 10 possible first-place votes in the poll to tally 81 total points. Swarthmore came in second in the preseason vote among the Centennial coaches with 69 points and earned the final first-place vote. Dickinson slotted in third in the poll with 66 points and was followed by Ursinus with 57 points then Franklin & Marshall with 44 points in fifth.

Haverford placed sixth in the poll with 42 points while McDaniel was posted in seventh place with 32 points. Muhlenberg was in eighth with 24 points and was followed by Gettysburg in ninth with 21 points, and Bryn Mawr rounded out the poll in 10th with 14 points.

Last season, Johns Hopkins collected 281 points to win the team title by more than 100 points.  This year, Ursinus will be hosting the Centennial Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Patterson Field from May 6th to May 8th

The Bears finished in third place for the first time since 2012, posting 122 points in a stellar performance that featured seven medals. Junior Isabelle Deal was brilliant at the 2021 championships as she captured Centennial gold in the shot put and javelin. Deal became the first Ursinus woman to win the javelin since Kelly McCarthy in 1996 and the first to take the shot put since Rachelle Pecovsky in 1997. Her performance at Centennial Championships set the stage for her to her All-American honors in the javelin at NCAA Championships. Ursinus earned a second gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay, where senior Kate Hunt and former Bears Rachel Coleman, Katy Jenkins, and Dominique Timmons won the race with a time of 49.85. Junior Jenna Lozzi earned a silver medal in the 3000 meter steeplechase last season at Centennial Championships as well.

The Bears will open their season on Saturday, April 2nd as they will compete in the Muhlenberg Invitational.