Nov. 25, 2002

TERRE HAUTE, IND. - The Duke women's cross country team finished 17th in the team standings at the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday, Nov. 25 at the LaVern Gibson Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Chris Williams, the lone Blue Devil on the men's team at the championships, finished 59th overall.

Caroline Bierbaum finished 34th overall and 23rd in the team standings. The freshman from New York, N.Y. finished in the top 30 among Americans to receive All-America honors. She is third women's harrier from Duke to receive the honor.

Joining Bierbaum on the top-20 cross country team were Clara Horowitz who finished 64th (21:09.7) in the team standings and Shannon Rowbury placed 95th (21:25.9). Sally Meyerhoff and Laura Stanley finished 131st (21:46.1) and 162nd (22:02.7), respectively. Phebe Ko and Heidi Hullinger also competed for Duke. Ko finished in 22:06.3 and Hullinger in 22:18.4.

"The women ran very well," said women's head coach Jan Ogilvie. "This was their first collegiate National Championships for all seven runners and we're very proud of them."

The 17th place finish marked the best finish for a women's team at Duke. The top five finishers for Duke were all freshmen and all seven will return next year. This was the first collegiate National Championships for all seven runners.

Williams' 59th place finish out of 255 harriers was his best run of the season and fourth among Atlantic Coast Conference runners.

"We are very pleased with Chris," said men's head coach Norm Ogilvie. He ran very well and has improved at each of the NCAA's he has been in and has continued to improve each week this season."

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