Dec. 21, 2007

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.: - With the 2008 indoor season already underway, the Nittany Lion women's track and field team is rated 12th in the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) Division I preseason poll. Nittany Lion standouts Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.) and Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.) are both rated among the top 10 returners in their respective events, while the Penn State 4x400-meter relay team is predicted to score another top five finish at the national championships.

The USTFCCCA Division I indoor track and field rankings are compiled solely from NCAA descending order lists. The preseason rankings are based on the final descending order list of the previous season. Athletes with performances rated in the top 35 nationally are factored into each team's total score.

Cox, a seven-time NCAA All-American, clocked the third-fastest 400-meter time of the indoor season last year, and is the second best among 2008 returners. Cox's 52.31 is not only a Penn State record, but also the fastest-time ever clocked at Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. The senior is already off to an outstanding start, running the fifth-fastest time in American history in the 500-meter at last weekend's Blue/White Meet. She was recently named USATF Athlete of the Week for her efforts.

Cox, along with teammates Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.), Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.), and Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.), will also look to build upon a sensational fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meters last year. The team's school-record mark of 3:33.39 was the fourth-fastest time in the NCAA in 2007, and was also ranked among the top 15 times in the world. Penn State is also the only team to finish in the top five last year and has all four relay legs coming back in 2008.

Hunter's career-best score of 4033 in the pentathlon, ranks seventh among athletes with remaining eligibility. The Riverside, Calif, product finished 10th in the event at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, before capturing All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the heptathlon at outdoor nationals.

Barber and Simmons are also highly accomplished individually, as Simmons achieved All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the 800-meters last year, while Barber qualified individually indoors and outdoors and was an All-American in the 400-meter hurdles.

Sophomore Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio), last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is the top rated Lion distance runner, after qualifying for the NCAA Championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field as a rookie, and has already made a return trip to the national cross country meet in 2007.

Louisiana State holds the top spot in the preseason poll, while defending national champion Arizona State, and Tennessee round out the top three. Michigan is the top rated Big Ten program in fourth, followed by Penn State, Minnesota (No. 15), Iowa (No. 24), and Illinois (No. 25).

The Nittany Lions will open their season after the New Year, hosting the Penn State Relays on Jan. 12.

USTFCCCA Division I women's indoor track and field preseason rankings
(as of Dec. 20, 2007)

1. LSU
2. Arizona State
3. Tennessee
4. Michigan
5. Stanford
6. South Carolina
7. Texas Tech
8. Texas A&M
9. Arkansas
10. Virginia Tech
11. Texas
12. Penn State
13. Florida
14. UCLA
15. Minnesota
16. North Carolina
17. Mississippi
18. Villanova
19. California
20. Southern Illinois
21. Hampton
22. BYU
23. Georgia
24. Iowa
25. Illinois