Aug. 23, 2004

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Providence College senior Kim Smith (Auckland, New Zealand) and former Friar Maria McCambridge of Ireland made their Olympic debuts on Friday, August 20 in the 5,000 meter preliminaries at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Both PC runners ran in the first of two preliminary heats. Smith placed 11th (15:31.80) and McCambridge finished 15th (15:57.42) in their heat. The top five runners in each preliminary and the next fastest five runners advanced to the finals.

Of the 41 runners in both preliminaries Smith had the 20th fastest time and McCambridge had the 30th fastest time.

The next former Friar to compete at the 2004 Olympics will be Mark Carroll '95 of Ireland. He will run the 5,000 meter preliminaries on Wednesday, August 25 at 1:05 p.m. EDT. The finals for the men's 5,000 meters will be held on Saturday, August 28 at 2:45 p.m. Carroll, who also ran in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, is making his second appearance in the 5,000 at the Olympics.

Former Friar Marie McMahon-Davenport '98 of Ireland, who is competing in her second Olympic Games, will run the 10,000 meter finals on Friday, August 27 in the Olympic Stadium at 2:35 EDT.

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