Swarthmore & Vassar

Corbett
Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:19:13 +0000

Since 1981 the “Centennial Conference” has been considered the nation’s elite small colleges athletic conference



I don’t want sound dismissive of Centennial Conference athletics…but “the nation’s elite small colleges athletic conference” ? Realistically, that’s the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The Centennial Conference is (literally) not in the same league.

Wikipedia goes on to state that Centennial Conference schools:



are also competitive nationally in athletics with the conference members have won five NCAA team titles - Franklin & Marshall women’s lacrosse (2007), Ursinus field hockey (2006) and Washington’s men’s lacrosse (1998) and men’s tennis (1994, 1997) teams.



Well and good. But for comparison, NESCAC schools won six NCAA team titles last year alone – that’s Middlebury for M soccer, Williams for W tennis and W rowing, Amherst for W cross-country, Bowdoin for field hockey, and Trinity for baseball. Trinity also won the national men’s squash championship, but that’s not an NCAA sport.

Johns Hopkins, a Centennial Conference member, is probably the nation’s most successful and renowned lacrosse school. But JHU plays lacrosse at the Division I level (with athletic scholarships), not in the Division III Centennial Conference, so its numerous lacrosse championships can’t be counted.