Nov. 12, 2005

BOSTON, Mass. -- The 13th-ranked Providence College women's cross country team and the 30th-ranked men's squad each finished third at the 2005 NCAA Northeast Regionals on Saturday, November 12 at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. With the third-place finish, both the men's and women's teams will wait to hear whether they qualified for the NCAA's. The announcements will be made on Sunday, November 13 at 6:00 p.m. on www.ncaasports.com.

The men's team was the first to compete on a sunny, mild afternoon in Boston and when the race was over Iona (33 points) emerged as the first-place finisher in the 10K race, while Dartmouth (50 points) finished second. The top two teams automatically qualified for the NCAA's. The Friars had three runners finish in the top-10, led by senior Martin Fagan (Mulligar, Ireland), who placed second overall. Fagan and Iona's Richard Kiplagat were in a tight race from the start, but Kiplagat was able to pull away from Fagan at the end. Fagan recorded a time of 29:15, four seconds behind Kiplagat.

Sophomores Max Smith (Dunedin, New Zealand) and Ahmed Haji (West Hartford, Conn.) also had impressive performances, finishing, fifth and eighth, respectively. Smith ran a time of 30:05, while Haji recorded a time of 30:10. Fagan, Smith and Haji automatically qualified for the NCAA's as individual competitors. Also scoring for the Friars were seniors Joe Dionne (Oshawa, Ontario) and Liam Reale (Hospital, Ireland). Dionne placed 25th (31:01), while Reale finished 27th (31:05).

The women's team (94 points) finished six points behind second-place Columbia (88 points) and seven points behind first-place Boston College (87 points) in the 6K race. The top two teams automatically qualified for the NCAA's. Senior All-American Fiona Crombie (Christchurch, New Zealand) continued her impressive season, winning the individual crown in a time of 20:27. In a close race from start to finish, Crombie was able to sprint the last 100 yards, crossing the finish line two seconds ahead of Columbia's Lisa Stublic and Caroline Bierbaum.

For the Friars, graduate Aine Hoban (Wakefield, England) was the team's second highest finisher as she placed in the top-10. Hoban recorded a time of 20:45 to finish sixth overall. Junior Meghan Owen (Danielson, Conn.) finished 15th overall in a time of 21:18, while freshman Katie DiCamillo (Garden City, N.Y.) recorded a 33rd-place finish in a time of 21:50. Freshman Michelle Childs (Cameron, Ontario) also scored for the Friars, finishing 39th (22:03). Crombie and Hoban automatically qualified for the NCAA's as individual competitors

The NCAA Championships will be held on Monday, November 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY (10,000 meters)
Top-10 Finishers
1.      Richard Kiplagat   Iona         29:11
2.      Martin Fagan       PC           29:15
3.      Ben True           Dartmouth    30:03
4.      Harbert Okuti      Iona         30:03
5.      Max Smith          PC           30:05
6.      Mohamed Khadraoui  Iona         30:07
7.      Alec Wall          Dartmouth    30:07
8.      Ahmed Haji         PC           30:10
9.      Mike Hanlon        Colgate      30:11
10.     Stephen Chemlany   Iona         30:17
--
25.     Joe Dionne         PC           31:01
27.     Liam Reale         PC           31:05
49.     Nick Weidman       PC           31:34
82.     Matt Kinback       PC           32:20

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS (TOP 10 OF 37)
1.      Iona            33
2.      Dartmouth       50
3.      Providence      67
4.      Cornell         104
5.      Brown           181
        Columbia        181
7.      Army            260
8.      Harvard         322
9.      Boston College  329
10.     Yale            365

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY (6,000 meters)
Top-10 Finishers
1.      Fiona Crombie     PC            20:27
2.      Lisa Stublic      Columbia      20:29
3.      Caroline Bierbaum Columbia      20:29
4.      Kaitlyn Gwyther   Quinnipiac    20:30
5.      Lindsey Scherf    Harvard       20:34
6.      Aine Hoban        PC            20:45
7.      Melanie Schorr    Dartmouth     20:51
8.      Lidsay Donaldson  Yale          20:54
9.      Maria Cicero      BC            21:00
10.     Laurel Burdick    BC            21:08
--
15.     Meghan Owen       PC            21:18
33.     Katie DiCamillo   PC            21:50
39.     Michelle Childs   PC            22:03
81.     Katie Twarog      PC            22:47
90.     Ashley Jensen     PC            22:53

WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS (TOP 10 OF 38)
1.      Boston College    87
2.      Columbia          88
3.      Providence        94
4.      Boston University 160
5.      Yale              198
6.      Iona              221
7.      Cornell           230
8.      Brown             232
9.      Harvard           271
        Dartmouth         271