LANCASTER, Pa. – Four-time defending champion Johns Hopkins received all possible first-place votes en route to being selected as the preseason favorite in the 2026 Centennial Conference Men's Cross Country Preseason Poll. The Blue Jays claimed eight first-place votes and 64 points to land atop the voting of CC head coaches.
Haverford, which has finished as the runner-up each of the past four years, placed second in the voting with 56 points and the remaining first-place vote. Swarthmore (48) edged Dickinson (46) for the third position, with Gettysburg (33) and Ursinus (32) neck-and-neck in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
The 2026 season opens up on Tuesday, Sept. 1 with a quartet of Centennial teams competing, including Franklin & Marshall hosting Dickinson and Gettysburg in the annual Little Three Meet. The Centennial Conference championship is set for Saturday, Oct. 31 at Haverford. This will make the sixth time Haverford has served as CC cross country hosts, most recently in 2022.
2026 Centennial Conference Men's Cross Country Preseason Poll
| Rank | Institution (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. Johns Hopkins (8) |
64 |
| 2. Haverford (1) |
56 |
| 3. Swarthmore |
48 |
| 4. Dickinson |
46 |
| 5. Gettysburg |
33 |
| 6. Ursinus |
32 |
| 7. Franklin & Marshall |
22 |
| 8. Muhlenberg |
14 |
| 9. McDaniel |
9 |
2026 Schedule | 2025 Championship Results | 2025 All-Centennial Team | History & Records | USTFCCCA Rankings
With one of the most accomplished runners in conference history now gone, the Centennial Conference will crown a new individual champion this fall for the first time since 2022. Johns Hopkins' Emmanuel Leblond capped off his career in historic fashion in 2025, becoming the third individual national champion in CC history along with Haverford's J.B. Haglund (2001) and Anders Hulleberg (2010), and the conference's first-ever four-time All-American.
Plenty of talented and experienced runners will vie to fill the highly-successful shoes of Leblond, as 18 All-Region and nine All-Centennial runners return to the conference this fall. JHU's Anthony Clark is the lone returning All-American in the conference after placing 19th at nationals a freshman in 2025. Teammate Kenny Wanlass is the reigning Mid-Atlantic Regional champion and a two-time All-Region honoree, while four other Blue Jays are also back as All-Region runners.
Swarthmore's Cohen Manges is the only three-time All-Region and three-time All-Centennial performer back in the fold this year. Dickinson's Luke Knestout is also a returning multi-time All-Region honoree, while Dickinson's Nathan Caldwell and the Hopkins contingent of Wanlass, Brady Ott, Olaf Dietz and Nash Minor each have two All-Centennial showings to their names. Caldwell, Knestout, Lane and Manges each individually qualified for the NCAA meet in 2025, with Manges competing at nationals for the third time in his career.
On the team side, Hopkins will aim to keep its winning streak alive as the Blue Jays seek a fifth consecutive CC crown this fall, which would mark the first CC five-peat since Haverford won five straight titles from 2014-18. At the 2025 CC Championship hosted by Gettysburg, Hopkins placed six runners in the top seven and totaled 19 points in the team standings to run away with the title. It marked the fourth straight and fifth overall CC crown for the Blue Jays, and their 19-point total was tied for the fifth-lowest in CC history. Haverford (66) edged Dickinson (70) for second place while Swarthmore (94) and Ursinus (165) also secured top-five team placings. Hopkins went on to represent the Centennial at the NCAA Championship, finishing in sixth place with 216 points, the second-highest national finish in JHU program history.
Haverford still maintains the conference lead by a wide margin with 24 team titles in the Centennial's 33 years of existence. Hopkins (6) and Dickinson (2) are the other two squads to have won CC championships.
The 2026 campaign will be the final one for Dickinson head coach Don Nichter, who has guided the Red Devil men's and women's cross country programs for nearly four decades. Nichter led Dickinson to CC men's team titles in 2008 and 2009, earning CC Coach of the Year accolades following both of those seasons. When combining his career coaching both cross country and track & field, his teams have captured 24 Centennial team championships.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason regional rankings will be released on Tuesday, Aug. 25, with the national ranking announcement set for Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Returning All-Americans (1)
Anthony Clark, Johns Hopkins, So. (19th place at 2025 NCAA Championship)
Returning All-Region (18)
Luke Knestout, Dickinson, Jr. (2025 & 2024 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Nathan Caldwell, Dickinson, Sr. (2025 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Simon Lane, Haverford, So. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Owen Bluman, Haverford, Sr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Torin Pelton-Flavin, Haverford, Sr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Kenny Wanlass, Johns Hopkins, Sr. (2025 Mid-Atlantic Individual Champion; 2024 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Nash Minor, Johns Hopkins, Sr. (2025 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Cedar Nichols-Barnett, Johns Hopkins, So. (2025 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Brady Ott, Johns Hopkins, Jr. (2025 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Caleb Tenney, Johns Hopkins, So. (2025 Mid-Atlantic All-Region)
Cohen Manges, Swarthmore, Sr. (2025, 2024 & 2023 Metro All-Region)
Matthew Fleming, Swarthmore, Sr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Jasper Mosley, Swarthmore, Jr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Charlie Schuetz, Swarthmore, Sr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Luka Opacic-Rodrigues, Swarthmore, Jr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Joey Alander, Swarthmore, Sr. (2025 Metro All-Region)
Spencer Etheridge, Swarthmore, Jr. (2024 Metro All-Region)
Kenneth Relovsky, Swarthmore, Sr. (2024 Metro All-Region)
Returning All-Centennial (9)
Nathan Caldwell, Dickinson, Sr. (2025 Second Team, 2023 Second Team)
Simon Lane, Haverford, So. (2025 First Team)
Brady Ott, Johns Hopkins, Jr. (2025 Second Team, 2024 First Team)
Kenny Wanlass, Johns Hopkins, Sr. (2025 First Team, 2024 First Team)
Olaf Dietz, Johns Hopkins, Jr. (2025 First Team, 2024 Second Team)
Nash Minor, Johns Hopkins, Sr. (2025 Second Team, 2024 Second Team)
Anthony Clark, Johns Hopkins, So. (2025 First Team)
Caleb Tenney, Johns Hopkins, So. (2025 Second Team)
Cohen Manges, Swarthmore, Sr. (2025 Second Team, 2024 Second Team, 2023 Second Team)
