The women's cross-country team surpassed expectations with a third-place finish in the 32-team New England Division III cross-country championship at Babson College. Coach Debra Aitken was "almost amazed" as six of the Mule harriers clocked personal best times. "Our kids ran better than I thought they were ready to run," she said. "They ran forty seconds to a little more than a minute faster than they did six weeks before" on the same 3.1-mile course.     The team's top finisher, Sarah Toland '00, took sixth place in 18:17. A transfer a year ago from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the NESCAC 5,000-meter champion last spring, Toland just missed qualifying for the nationals even though this was her first year of cross-country competition. First-year standout Maria Mensching finished 21st with a time of 18:45, and Katie Macdonald '02's 19:09 was good for 39th. Beth Haeussler '00, out for weeks with a lower back problem and running her first race in a month, just missed her personal best.     Only the top two teams from the New England region advanced to the national championship round. But next year the Mules will return their top three runners along with Corey Dwyer '00 and Haeussler and will lose only top-seven finishers Megan Rourke '99 and tri-captain Laurie Roberts '99 to graduation. "We had a great season," Aitken said. "Now we're getting excited about next year."