Top Penn State (NCAA-Era) Womens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

The Math Intern is redeemed and was finally allowed out of the basement when he finished the calculations for the Womens version of the All-Time Best list.

The criteria for the Womens list are similar to those used for the Men.  The main difference is that runners in the top-50 of any NCAA Championships were included. (Sorry Patty Murnane, 51st in 1978!)  This also excludes PSU greats like Kathy Mills, Peggy Cleary and Liz Berry who ran before the NCAA included women.  Hey, hey, hey! We don't want to exclude the AIAW Women.  We would love to merge those results into the NCAA results.  If anyone has access to full results from the AIAW years, please let us know!!!!  Let's keep the Intern busy.

The Criteria:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 50 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.
2. Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish.  A 50th place finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 50 points.  This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA Championships. But placing high still means the most.
3. Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 50 and  b) most recent to oldest.

• Each year's finishing point total from earlier is multiplied by a factor defined as:

# of Finishers in Race Year (x)

# of Finishers in 2009 (254) 

The Top Penn State Women NCAA Cross Country Runners Of All-Time:

1. Bridget Franek - 23rd 2008, 26th 2009 for 52.8 points.
2. Susanne Heyer - 14th 2000 for 36.7 points.
3. Caitlin Lane - 16th 2011 for 35.0 points.
4. Stacia Perry - 23rd 1985, 41st 1987, 31st 1988 for 30.1 points.
5. Kimberly Kelly - 27th 1992, 35th 1994 for 28.4 points.
6. Kimberly McGreevy - 28th in 1996 for 19.4 points.
7. Heather Carmichael - 31st 1981, 43rd 1983 for 13.1 points.
8. Doreen Startare - 28th in 1982 for 12.0 points.
9. Kelli Hunt - 42nd 1992, 44th 1993 for 11.4 points.
10. Colleen Glyde - 41st 1992 for 7.1 points.
11. Wendy Nelson - 43rd 1990 for 5.6 points.
12. Torri Perri - 47th 2012 for 4.0 points.
13. Erin St. John - 46th 1994 for 3.6 points.
14. Jennifer Weaver - 46th 1993 for 3.6 points.
15. Meredith White - 45th 1984 for 2.6 points.  

Torri Perri, 2012.

Doreen Startare, left, 1982.

Caitlin Lane, 2011.

Bridget Franek, 2008, 2009.

Kathy Mills, pre-NCAA Legend.

Heather Carmichael, front, training with Arthur Lydiard.