Oct. 28, 2004

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The second-ranked Providence College women's cross country team and the 22nd-ranked men's team will compete at the BIG EAST Championships on Friday, October 29 at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. The men's 8K race will begin at 11:00 a.m., while the women's 6K race will start at 11:50 a.m.

The Providence women will aim for their fourth BIG EAST title and their first since 1997. Providence won three consecutive BIG EAST crowns from 1995-97 and have eight second-place finishes, including last season. The Friars finished second behind Notre Dame in 2003, but the Friars took the top two spots as Kim Smith (Auckland, New Zealand) and Mary Cullen (Sligo, Ireland) finished first and second, respectively. Smith's time of 20:01 set a course record at the BIG EAST Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in New York and she became the seventh Friar to win an individual title. A victory at the 2004 Championships would make her the fifth runner in the history of the event to win multiple titles. Providence's Amy Rudolph (1993, 1994) and Marie McMahon (1995, 1996) each won two BIG EAST titles.

This season's squad at the Championship also will include seniors Deirdre Byrne (Wicklow, Ireland), Katie Twarog (Albany, N.Y.) and Roisin Quinn (Waterford, Ireland), juniors Fiona Crombie (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Jane Nalder (Wellington, New Zealand) and freshmen Michelle Childs (Cameron, Ontario) and Mary Nelle Trefz (Iowa City, Iowa).

The Providence men have captured a record 14 BIG EAST titles in the 25-year history of the event. PC's last victory at the BIG EAST Championships was in 2000. In addition, Providence has had eight BIG EAST individual champions, including Mark Carroll (1992, 1995) and Brendan Quinn (1980, 1982), who won the event twice. The last Friar to win the individual title was Adam Sutton (Preston, England) in 2002.

Last season, Providence finished fourth as Dylan Wykes (Kingston, Ontario) led the way with a fourth-place finish and Patrick Moulton (Pelham, N.H.) placed 11th. This season, the Friars also will feature graduate student Michael DeCoste (Duxbury, Mass.), senior Patrick Guidera (Clonmel, Ireland), juniors Martin Fagan (Mullingar, Ireland) and Joe Dionne (Oshawa, Ontario), sophomore Darren Brown (Spring, Texas) and freshmen Max Smith (Dunedin, New Zealand) and Ahmed Haji (West Hartford, Conn.).

Following the BIG EAST Championships, both the men's and women's teams will compete at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Saturday, November 13 at Van Cortlandt Park in New York.