Sept. 4, 2001

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence College women's cross country team was ranked No. 13 in the 2001 FinishLynx/NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll, release Saturday, September 1. The Friars, who finished ninth at the 2000 NCAA Cross Country Championships, have a talented core of harriers poised to return PC to the NCAA Championships.

The Friars received 154 points in the preseason poll, while Colorado and Boston College earned nine and three first-place votes to top the poll at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Stanford (273 points), Brigham Young (269) and Wisconsin (251) close out the top five ranked teams.

In addition to Providence and Boston College from the BIG EAST Conference, Georgetown was ranked 11th and Villanova was ranked 22nd.

The Friars open the 2001 season at the University of New Hampshire Invitational on Friday, September 7.

FinishLynx/NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON POLL
RANK	TEAM (1st-place votes)	POINTS
1.	Colorado (9)	        298
2.	Boston College (3)	278
3.	Stanford	        273
4.	Brigham Young	        269
5.	Wisconsin	        251
6.	North Carolina	        230
7.	Yale	                218
8.	Arizoni	                213
9.	North Carolina State	192
10.	Arizona State	        189
11.	Georgetown	        185
12.	Arkansas	        182
13.	PROVIDENCE COLLEGE	154
14.	Missouri	        133
15.	Marquette	        111
16.	Colorado State	        104
17.	Texas A&M	        100
18.	Minnesota	         81
19.	Washington	         77
20.	Weber State	         69
21.	Wake Forest	         62
22.	Villanova	         50
23.	Columbia	         45
24.	Michigan	         44
25.	Duke	                 26