Oct. 21, 2003

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence College women's cross country team finished first at the Penn State Invitational on October 18 and climbed to No. 8 in the latest FinishLynx Division I Women's Cross Country Poll, which was released on October 20. Providence received 298 points and climbed two positions from last week's poll.

Stanford (384 points) is the new No. 1 team as it earned seven first-place votes. Brigham Young (383 points) is ranked second, while North Carolina State (355 points), Arizona State (350 points) and North Carolina (337 points) round out the top five.

Juniors Kimberly Smith (Auckland, New Zealand) and Mary Cullen (Sligo, Ireland) finished first and second, respectively to lead the Friars to their second consecutive Penn State Invitational crown. Smith finished the race in a time of 20:14, while Cullen completed the meet in a time of 20:24. Sophomore Fiona Crombie (Christchurch, New Zealand) also placed in the top 10, finishing ninth in a time of 21:10.

The Friars return to action on Friday, October 31 at the BIG EAST Championship.

FinishLynx NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S NCAA CROSS COUNTRY POLL
October 21, 2003
Rank	Team (First place votes)     Points
1	Stanford (7)                 384
2	Brigham Young (6)            383
3	North Carolina State         355
4	Arizona State                350
5	North Carolina               337
6	Michigan State               328
7	Notre Dame                   308
8	PROVIDENCE                   298
9	Colorado                     285
10	Michigan                     276
11	Northern Arizona             250
12	Columbia                     246
13	Wake Forest                  241
14	Princeton                    227
15	UCLA                         215
16	Georgetown                   195
17	Missouri                     180
18	Wisconsin                    165
19	Penn State                   158
20	Nebraska                     137
21	Marquette                    127
22	Colorado State               118
23	UC Santa Barbara             107
24	Baylor                       92
25	West Virginia                63
26	Tennessee                    52
27	Boston College               46
28	Nevada                       38
29	Duke                         29
30	Florida State                20