The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. Member teams are located in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Eleven private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Five of ten members of the Centennial Conference rank among the top 50 national liberal arts colleges and

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

is ranked seventh among national universities. On average, Centennial members sponsor 19 varsity teams. Conference members have won seventeen NCAA team titles: Johns Hopkins women's cross country (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021), Gettysburg women's lacrosse (2011, 2017, 2018), Haverford men's cross country (2010), Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse (2007, 2009), Ursinus field hockey (2006),

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

men's lacrosse (1998), and Washington men's tennis (1994, 1997).

History

According to the Centennial Conference's web site: "On June 4, 1981, Keith Spalding, then-president of

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Fran ...

, 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. Those private colleges were Dickinson College,

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of Luthe ...

, Swarthmore College,

Ursinus College Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus. History 19th century In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college wh ...

, and Western Maryland College (later renamed and now known as

McDaniel College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

). 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 ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

, Haverford College, and

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

. 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 The Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) is an umbrella organization of three athletic conferences that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The 18 member colleges are in the Mid-Atlantic United States. The organization is divided into two main c ...

(MAC). Johns Hopkins and McDaniel College both played in the Mason-Dixon Conference prior to entering the MAC in 1975.

Chronological timeline

* 1981 - On June 4, 1981, the Centennial Conference was founded as a football-only league, then known as the Centennial Football Conference. Charter members included Dickinson College,

, Swarthmore College,

, and

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

(now McDaniel College). * 1992 - The Centennial Football Conference became the Centennial Conference when the conference expanded to add other sports, effective in the 1992-93 academic year.

, Haverford College and

also joined the newly-formed all-sports conference. * 1998 -

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for men's wrestling, effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 2001 - Johns Hopkins left the

University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, M ...

(UAA) to fully align with the Centennial Conference for all the sports being sponsored, effective in the 2001-02 academic year. * 2004 - The

United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...

(Merchant Marine) and

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...

(Stevens or Stevens Tech) joined the Centennial as affiliate members for men's wrestling, effective in the 2004-05 academic year. * 2007 - Juniata College and

Moravian College Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded in 1742, Moravian University ...

joined the Centennial as affiliate members for football, effective in the 2007 fall season (2007-08 academic year). * 2010 - Susquehanna University joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for football and women's golf, effective in the 2010-11 academic year. * 2012 -

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for men's wrestling, effective in the 2012-13 academic year. * 2016 - NYU left the Centennial as an affiliate member for wrestling, effective after the 2015-16 academic year. * 2017 - Susquehanna left the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf, effective after the 2017 spring season (2016-17 academic year). * 2017 -

Marymount University Marymount University is a private Catholic university with its main campus in Arlington, Virginia. Marymount offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. It has approximately 3,897 students enrolled, representing approximately 45 states an ...

and

Neumann University Neumann University is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Aston, Pennsylvania. It is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. History The roots of Neumann University began in 1855 when Bishop (later Saint) John ...

joined the Centennial as affiliate members for women's golf, effective in the 2018 spring season (2017-18 academic year). * 2019 - Two institutions left the Centennial as affiliate members: Neumann for women's golf and Stevens for men's wrestling, effective after the 2018-19 academic year. * 2019 -

Cabrini University Cabrini University is a private Roman Catholic university in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1957, and was named after the first American naturalized citizen saint, Mother ...

joined the Centennial as an affiliate member for women's golf to replace Neumann's spot, effective in the 2020 spring season (2019-20 academic year). * 2023 - Football affiliates Juniata, Moravian and Susquehanna will depart for the new football league started in the

Landmark Conference The Landmark Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the eastern United States in the states of Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, plus Washington, D.C. ...

, effective after the 2022 fall season (2022-23 academic year).

Member schools

Current members

The Centennial currently has 11 full members, all are private schools:

Critcism of Johns Hopkins as a member of the Centennial Conference

In April 2022, an opinion piece was published by Dickinson College’s student newspaper, The Dickinsonian, that criticized Johns Hopkins’ membership in the Centennial Conference, specifically concerning Johns Hopkins' Men's and Women's Track and Field teams. The article referenced how outside of Johns Hopkins, the other member schools (Dickinson, Bryn Mawr, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore, and Ursinus) all have enrollments that do not exceed 3,000 students. The article then references Johns Hopkins' enrollment of over 6,000 students, speaking on how it is unfair to the other schools, as it gives the school twice the amount of student-athletes that the other member schools have. The article also comments on how similarly sized institutions to John Hopkins have significantly more funding to spend on high-quality training equipment than all other Centennial Conference members. The article correlates the discrepancies in enrollment and funding between Johns Hopkins and all other Centennial Conference member institutions to Johns Hopkins’ dominance in Men's and Women's track and field. Before Ursinus College won the 2022 Centennial Conference Men's Track and Field Championship, Johns Hopkins Men’s and Women’s track and field won the indoor and outdoor track and field centennial conference championship 11 years in a row. The article concludes by contending that Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Track and Field should become an NCAA Division 1 program, allowing them to compete against teams similarly skilled to them. ;Notes

Affiliate members

The Centennial currently has seven affiliate members, all but one are private schools: ;Notes In April 2022, an opinion piece was published by Dickinson College’s student newspaper, The Dickinsonian, that criticized Johns Hopkins’ membership in the Centennial Conference, specifically concerning Johns Hopkins' Men's and Women's Track and Field teams. The article referenced how outside of Johns Hopkins, the other member schools (Dickinson, Bryn Mawr, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, Swarthmore, and Ursinus) all have enrollments that do not exceed 3,000 students. The article then references Johns Hopkins' enrollment of over 6,000 students, speaking on how it is unfair to the other schools, as it gives the school twice the amount of student-athletes that the other member schools have. The article also comments on how similarly sized institutions to John Hopkins have significantly more funding to spend on high-quality training equipment than all other Centennial Conference members. The article correlates the discrepancies in enrollment and funding between Johns Hopkins and all other Centennial Conference member institutions to Johns Hopkins’ dominance in Men's and Women's track and field. Before Ursinus College won the 2022 Centennial Conference Men's Track and Field Championship, Johns Hopkins Men’s and Women’s track and field won the indoor and outdoor track and field centennial conference championship 11 years in a row. The article concludes by contending that Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Track and Field should become an NCAA Division 1 program, allowing them to compete against teams similarly skilled to them.

Former affiliate members

The Centennial had four former affiliate members, all were private schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1981 till:2031 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Dickinson (1981–present) bar:1 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:2 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Franklin & Marshall (1981–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:3 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Gettysburg (1981–present) bar:3 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:4 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Johns Hopkins (1981–present) bar:4 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:5 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: McDaniel (1981–present) bar:5 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:6 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Muhlenberg (1981–present) bar:6 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:7 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Swarthmore (1981–present) bar:7 color:Full from:1992 till:2001 bar:7 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end bar:8 color:AssocF from:1981 till:1992 text: Ursinus (1981–present) bar:8 color:Full from:1992 till:end bar:9 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Bryn Mawr (1992–present) bar:10 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Haverford (1992–present) bar:11 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end text: Washington (Md.) (1992–present) bar:12 color:AssocOS from:1998 till:end text:

Washington and Lee , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

(wrestling; 1998–present) bar:13 color:AssocOS from:2004 till:end text: Merchant Marine (wrestling; 2004–present) bar:14 color:AssocOS from:2004 till:2019 text: Stevens (wrestling; 2004–2019) bar:15 color:AssocF from:2007 till:2023 text: Juniata (2007–2023) bar:16 color:AssocF from:2007 till:2023 text: Moravian (2007–2023) bar:17 color:AssocF from:2010 till:2023 text: Susquehanna (2010–2023) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:2016 text: New York (wrestling; 2012–2016) bar:19 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:end text: Marymount (women's golf; 2017–present) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2017 till:2019 text: Neumann (women's golf; 2017–2019) bar:21 color:AssocOS from:2019 till:end text: Cabrini (women's golf; 2019–present) bar:N color:powderblue from:1981 till:1992 text:Centennial Football Conference bar:N color:blue from:1992 till:end text:Centennial Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1981

Sports

The Centennial Conference sponsors championships in the following sports:

Men's sponsored sports by school

;Notes

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Centennial Conference that are played by Landmark schools

Women's sponsored sports by school