Penn State joins top 30 in Division I women

Sept. 25, 2007 

Penn State joins top 30 in Division I women’s cross country poll; Stanford still No. 1 

Penn State joined the top 30 while Princeton and BYU climbed several spots in the second Division I women’s cross country poll of the 2007 season. 

The remaining spots were quite similar to the first poll released on Sept. 11 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Defending NCAA champion Stanford received ten of the 13 first-place votes to maintain its top position. The next four spots continued to be held by Michigan, Colorado, Arkansas and Wisconsin. Colorado received the other three first-place votes. 

Rounding out the top 10 are Arizona State, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State and Virginia. Arizona State, Michigan State and Virginia each moved up one spot from the preseason poll. 

The second 10 consists of Providence, Florida State, Princeton, Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina State, Washington, BYU, Duke and Georgetown. 

Penn State went from being unranked to No. 29 following its victory in the John “Paddy” Doyle Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. Led by the fifth-place finish of Bridget Franek, Penn State scored 48 points to finish eight points in front of the runner-up, Cornell. 

Princeton improved three spots to No. 13 after claiming the top six spots in the H/Y/P meet over the weekend. Earlier this month, Princeton won the Fordham Invitational. 

No. 18 BYU moved up five spots in this week’s poll. The Cougars placed five runners in the top six in racing to the Big Wave Invitational title in Hawaii. 

The voting panel for the USTFCCCA Division I women's poll consists of nine elected regional representatives, four at-large members of the USTFCCCA and compiled by Jesse Rosen.  

The next Division I poll will be released Oct. 2. For complete Division I regional and national rankings please visit www.ustfccca.org. 

NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country rankings

Sept. 25, 2007 

Others receiving votes: Wake Forest, Nebraska, Columbia, Oklahoma State, Cornell, Northern Arizona, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, Syracuse, Weber State, and Rice.