CHICAGO – After winning the Conference USA Cross Country Championship on Nov. 1 in Tampa, Fla., the Marquette women’s cross country team moved up to No. 19 in the FinishLynx/NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country poll, while TCU joined the ranks at No. 30 after a second-place finish at the conference meet. Nineteenth is the highest ranking for Marquette this year while this is the first time in TCU history that the women’s cross country team has been ranked in the top 30.

The Golden Eagles clinched their fourth consecutive conference championship title with 43 points, edging out TCU. Marquette’s squad was led by sophomore standout Jodi Jakubek who placed third with a time of 20:56.30, garnering First Team All-Conference USA honors. Freshman Heidi Lindeman earned C-USA Freshman of the Year honors with her sixth-place finish (21:07.40).

TCU finished just behind the Golden Eagles with 55 after two Horned Frogs placed first and second individually. Junior Mary Kinyanjui, who has led her squad all year, was the overall winner after covering the course in 20:45.40 and senior Ami Batler followed right behind to claim second place (20:46.30). Both women earned First Team All-C-USA for their efforts.

Marquette will compete next at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional held in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 15 while the Frogs look forward to the NCAA South Central Regional meet in Waco, Texas on Nov. 15.

FinishLynx/NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL POLL
(Conducted by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association)
(As of Nov. 4, 2003)

Rank Team (first place votes) Points
1 Stanford (10) 387
2 Brigham Young (3) 380
3 North Carolina 362
4 Notre Dame 345
5 North Carolina State 341
6 Colorado 311
7 Michigan 308
8 Providence 292
9 Columbia 269
10 Northern Arizona 265
11 Arizona State 264
12 Michigan State 254
13 Wake Forest 241
14 Princeton 234
15 UCLA 213
16 Georgetown 205
17 Penn State 171
18 Baylor 158
19 MARQUETTE 150
20 Missouri 142
21 Villanova 124
22 Colorado State 120
23 UC Santa Barbara 99
24 Tennessee 87
25 Duke 68
26 Boston College 60
27 Nevada 58
28 Florida State 32
29 Ball State 27
30 TCU 18
-- Wisconsin 18
-- Nebraska 20
-- West Virginia 25
-- Arkansas --
-- William & Mary --
-- Toledo --

-ConferenceUSA.com-