Oct. 20, 2004

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence College women's cross country team, which finished first at the Penn State Invitational on October 16, received 376 points to keep its No. 2 ranking in the FinishLynx National Poll. Providence has been ranked second for six consecutive weeks.

In their victory at Penn State, the Friars were paced by seniors Kim Smith (Auckland, New Zealand) and Mary Cullen (Sligo, Ireland), who finished first and second, respectively. Smith recorded a time of 19:46, while Cullen crossed the finish line in a time of 20:23. For Smith, it marked her second consecutive individual title of the 2004 season. Junior Fiona Crombie (Christchurch, New Zealand) finished seventh (20:46), while seniors Deirdre Byrne of Wicklow, Ireland (21:21) and Katie Twarog of Albany, N.Y. (21:34) finished 16th and 23rd, respectively.

Providence, which has won all of its four meets this season, is back in action on Friday, October 29 at the BIG EAST Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.

FinishLynx NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S NCAA CROSS COUNTRY POLL
October 20, 2004
Rank    Team (First place votes)        Points
1       Stanford (13)                   390
2       PROVIDENCE                      376
3       Colorado                        364
4       Michigan                        349
5       Duke                            336
6       Notre Dame                      329
7       North Carolina                  308
8       Arizona State                   302
9       Missouri                        285
10      North Carolina State            267
11      Michigan State                  248
12      Brigham Young                   244
13      Southern Methodist              236
14      Tennessee                       225
15      Villanova                       214
16      UC Santa Barbara                189
17      Georgia                         178
18      Wake Forest                     167
19      Princeton                       151
20      Arkansas                        145
21      Baylor                          138
22      West Virginia                   102
23      Idaho                           99
24      Colorado State                  96
25      Boston College                  72
26      UCLA                            70
27      Illinois                        65
28      Columbia                        46
29      Butler                          29
30      Marquette                       11

Other Teams Also Receiving Votes: Georgetown 8, Cornell 4, Northern Arizona 1, Penn State 1.