Centennial Conference
Encyclopedia
The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA
's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland
and Pennsylvania
.
Eleven highly selective private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Most institutions are renowned nationally for their traditions in higher education excellence, each with impressive academic histories. Six of the 11 members of the Centennial Conference rank among the top 50 national liberal arts colleges with Johns Hopkins University
being the only research intensive university in the conference.
According to the Centennial Conference's web site: "On June 4, 1981, Keith Spalding, then-president of Franklin & Marshall College
, made the announcement that "eight private colleges found it timely and appropriate to form a round-robin football schedule among institutions with similar attitudes and practices in intercollegiate football competition." With that statement, the Centennial Conference was born.
The conference moved from a football only conference to an all-sports conference after a 1991 feasibility study. The study also recommended to expand from eight schools to eleven. The other schools recommended were Bryn Mawr College
, Haverford College
, and Washington College
. Those three schools accepted and became Charter members in 1992 as the conference expanded its sports offerings.
All of the charter members defected from the Middle Atlantic Conference.
On the average, Centennial members boast of 19 varsity teams per campus which is well above the national norm. Conference members have won eight NCAA team titles: Gettysburg women's lacrosse (2011), Haverford men's cross country (2010), Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse (2007, 2009), Ursinus field hockey (2006) and Washington men's lacrosse (1998), and Washington men's tennis (1994, 1997).
!Institution
!Location
!Founded
!Enrollment
!Affiliation
!Joined
!Nickname
!US News Ranking 2011 for Liberal Arts
|-
|Bryn Mawr College
|Bryn Mawr, PA
|1885
|1,890
|Private
|1992
|Owls
|#25
|-
|Dickinson College
|Carlisle, PA
|1783
|2,381
|Private
|1981
|Red Devils
|#47
|-
|Franklin & Marshall College
|Lancaster, PA
|1787
|2,104
|Private
|1981
|Diplomats
|#42
|-
|Gettysburg College
|Gettysburg, PA
|1832
|2,600
|Private/Lutheran
|1981
|Bullets
|#47
|-
|Haverford College
|Haverford, PA
|1833
|1,169
|Private
|1992
|Fords
|#10
|-
|Johns Hopkins University
|Baltimore, MD
|1876
|4,478
|Private
|1981
|Blue Jays
|#13 (National Universities)
|-
|McDaniel College
|Westminster, MD
|1867
|3,641
|Private
|1981
|Green Terror
|#122
|-
|Muhlenberg College
|Allentown, PA
|1848
|2,457
|Private/Lutheran
|1981
|Mules
|#81
|-
|Swarthmore College
|Swarthmore, PA
|1864
|1,525
|Private
|1981
|Garnet
|#3
|-
|Ursinus College
|Collegeville, PA
|1869
|1,583
|Private
|1981
|Bears
|#71
|-
|Washington College
|Chestertown, MD
|1782
|1,285
|Private
|1992
|Shoremen, Shorewomen
|#93
|
|-
|Juniata College
|Huntingdon, PA
|1876
|1460
|Private
|2007
|Eagles (football only)
|#102
|
l-
lSusquehanna University
lSelinsgrove, PA
l1858
l2,305
lPrivate
l-
lSusquehanna University#(football only)lCrusaders (football only)
l#116
l
|-
|Moravian College
|Bethlehem, PA
|1742
|1,495
|Private
|2007
|Greyhounds (football only)
|#127
|-
Teams compete in men's and women's cross country
, field hockey
, football
, men's and women's soccer
, women's volleyball
, men's and women's basketball
, men's and women's swimming
, men's and women's track and field
, wrestling
, baseball
, men's and women's golf
, men's and women's lacrosse
, softball
and men's and women's tennis
.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
Eleven highly selective private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Most institutions are renowned nationally for their traditions in higher education excellence, each with impressive academic histories. Six of the 11 members of the Centennial Conference rank among the top 50 national liberal arts colleges with Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
being the only research intensive university in the conference.
According to the Centennial Conference's web site: "On June 4, 1981, Keith Spalding, then-president of Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College is a four-year private co-educational residential national liberal arts college in the Northwest Corridor neighborhood of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States....
, made the announcement that "eight private colleges found it timely and appropriate to form a round-robin football schedule among institutions with similar attitudes and practices in intercollegiate football competition." With that statement, the Centennial Conference was born.
The conference moved from a football only conference to an all-sports conference after a 1991 feasibility study. The study also recommended to expand from eight schools to eleven. The other schools recommended were Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
, and Washington College
Washington College
Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...
. Those three schools accepted and became Charter members in 1992 as the conference expanded its sports offerings.
All of the charter members defected from the Middle Atlantic Conference.
On the average, Centennial members boast of 19 varsity teams per campus which is well above the national norm. Conference members have won eight NCAA team titles: Gettysburg women's lacrosse (2011), Haverford men's cross country (2010), Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse (2007, 2009), Ursinus field hockey (2006) and Washington men's lacrosse (1998), and Washington men's tennis (1994, 1997).
Current members
{| class="sortable wikitable"!Institution
!Location
!Founded
!Enrollment
!Affiliation
!Joined
!Nickname
!US News Ranking 2011 for Liberal Arts
|-
|Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
|Bryn Mawr, PA
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
|1885
|1,890
|Private
|1992
|Owls
|#25
|-
|Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
|Carlisle, PA
|1783
|2,381
|Private
|1981
|Red Devils
|#47
|-
|Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College is a four-year private co-educational residential national liberal arts college in the Northwest Corridor neighborhood of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States....
|Lancaster, PA
|1787
|2,104
|Private
|1981
|Diplomats
|#42
|-
|Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College is a private four-year liberal arts college founded in 1832, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the famous battlefield. Its athletic teams are nicknamed the Bullets. Gettysburg College has about 2,700 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women...
|Gettysburg, PA
|1832
|2,600
|Private/Lutheran
|1981
|Bullets
|#47
|-
|Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
|Haverford, PA
|1833
|1,169
|Private
|1992
|Fords
|#10
|-
|Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
|Baltimore, MD
|1876
|4,478
|Private
|1981
|Blue Jays
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
The Johns Hopkins University's intercollegiate sports teams are called the Blue Jays , and they compete in the NCAA's Division III, except for the lacrosse teams that compete in Division I. They are primarily members of the Centennial Conference. The team colors are Columbia blue and black, and...
|#13 (National Universities)
|-
|McDaniel College
McDaniel College
McDaniel College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland, located 30 miles northwest of Baltimore. The college also has a satellite campus located in Budapest, Hungary. Until July 2002, it was known as Western Maryland College...
|Westminster, MD
|1867
|3,641
|Private
|1981
|Green Terror
|#122
|-
|Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America.- History...
|Allentown, PA
|1848
|2,457
|Private/Lutheran
|1981
|Mules
|#81
|-
|Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
|Swarthmore, PA
|1864
|1,525
|Private
|1981
|Garnet
|#3
|-
|Ursinus College
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.-History:1867Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where "young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity." These founders were hoping to...
|Collegeville, PA
|1869
|1,583
|Private
|1981
|Bears
|#71
|-
|Washington College
Washington College
Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...
|Chestertown, MD
|1782
|1,285
|Private
|1992
|Shoremen, Shorewomen
|#93
|
|-
|Juniata College
Juniata College
Juniata College is a private liberal arts college located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It is named after the Juniata River — one of the principal tributaries of the Susquehanna River. In 1876 it became the first college founded by the Church of the Brethren and has been co-educational since...
|Huntingdon, PA
|1876
|1460
|Private
|2007
|Eagles (football only)
|#102
|
l-
lSusquehanna University
Susquehanna University
Susquehanna University is a liberal arts college in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the state capital, Harrisburg.-Academics:...
lSelinsgrove, PA
l1858
l2,305
lPrivate
l-
lSusquehanna University#(football only)lCrusaders (football only)
l#116
l
|-
|Moravian College
Moravian College
Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...
|Bethlehem, PA
|1742
|1,495
|Private
|2007
|Greyhounds (football only)
|#127
|-
Teams compete in men's and women's cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, men's and women's soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, women's volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, men's and women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, men's and women's swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, men's and women's track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, men's and women's golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, men's and women's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
and men's and women's tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
.