Shana Cox, who is coming off a second-place finish at NCAAs, will run the 400-meters at the USATF Championships this week in Indianapolis.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: June 18, 2007 ¨C Coming off an extremely successful standing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Nittany Lion track and field teams will continue to compete against some of the world¡¯s bests this weekend, as they travel to the USATF Championships in Indianapolis. Depending on their finishes, Lion athletes could advance onto several international competitions, including the IAAF World Championships.

After taking runner-up honors at the NCAA Championships ¨C the highest-ever finish by a Nittany Lion sprinter - redshirt junior Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.) will take on a stacked US 400-meter field, including two-time defending champion and American record holder Sanya Richards, as well as NCAA Champ Nastasha Hastings of South Carolina. Cox¡¯s PR 51.15 is the fifth-best time in the quarter mile standings. The junior, who was recently named the Penn State Female Athlete of the Year, has been outstanding in 2007, adding three more All-America certificates to her already illustrious resume.

Freshman Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) will conclude her sensational rookie campaign entering the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Classmate Leah Rosenfeld (Ridgefield, Conn.) will also represent the Lions in the distances, running the 1500-meters in the junior classification. Junior Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.), an All-American indoors, is scheduled to run the 800-meters.

Volunteer assistant coach GiGi Johnson will aim to defend her title in the women¡¯s heptathlon, an event she won last summer with a score of 6183. Johnson was also a member of the US team that traveled to the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005. Also competing in the multi-events is Penn State redshirt sophomore Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.). Hunter is coming off a career weekend at the NCAA meet, where she finished in All-America status with an eighth-place effort, scoring a school-record 5711. Hunter now holds both the Nittany Lion indoor and outdoor multi-event standards. Former Nittany Lion All-American and volunteer coach Ryan Olkowski is also set to go in the multi-events, competing in the men¡¯s decathlon.

Two-time Big Ten champion Allen Pettner is set to compete in the javelin at the USATF Championships this week in Indianapolis.

Sophomore Ryan Fritz (Parkesburg, Pa.) is entered in the high jump after qualifying for the World Junior Championships last summer. Fritz recently finished in a tie for ninth at the NCAA Championships, and also boasts a fifth-place effort indoors.

Two-time Big Ten champion Allen Pettner (Mercersburg, Pa.) is set to go in the men¡¯s javelin, while Heidi Nadeau (North Hampton, N.H.), coming off an 11th-place finish at NCAAs, will enter the women¡¯s competition.

The meet begins on Wednesday, June 20, and runs through Sunday, June 24. Fans can follow all the results at www.usatf.org, or www.flashresults.com.