University Park, PA- Freshman standout Tracy Brauksieck (Homer, NY) led the Nittany Lions to a third place finish and broke another Penn State course record running a 21:06.79 for the fourteenth best time, four seconds faster than her previous course record time. Brauksieck placed at the top of the Nittany Lion scoring with a fifth place finish.

Penn State scored 87 points to place third behind two Top 25-ranked teams. No. 8 Providence took first place with a score of 51 and No. 21 Villanova placed second with 74 points. The Nittany Lions also defeated a Top 25-ranked team, No. 22 William & Mary placed fourth behind the Lions with a score of 96.

"I was very pleased, it was a very competitive race, we were within 13 points of Villanova and that is great," Head Coach Beth Alford- Sullivan said.

Other runners scoring for the Nittany Lions included sophomore Chelsea Lenge (West Hartford, Conn.) who placed sixteenth with a time of 22:00.03. Sophomore Molly Landreth (Newburyport, Mass.) placed eighteenth with a time of 22:05.32 and junior Katy Hillard (Turbotville, Pa.) placed nineteenth in 22:05.85. Rounding out the scoring for the Nittany Lions was junior transfer Tara Johnson in a time of 22:27.01 placing twenty-ninth , sophomore Michelle Wale (Pine Bush, NY) with a time of 22:30.01 for thirtieth and junior Maureen Thomas (Bethlehem, Pa.) in 22:39.55 for thirty-eighth place.

Brauksieck was not the only runner to break a course time, a total of six were broken. Race champion Megan Metcalfe of West Virginia obtained the fourth best time with a 20:49.72, William & Mary's Ali Henderson ran a 20:56.92 for the ninth best time, Mary Cullen of Providence has the tenth best time with a 21:00.26. Villanova's Ioana Parusheva ran a 21:04.90 for the twelfth best time, Brauksieck now has the fourteenth best time and Indiana University of Pa.'s Sara Raschiatore in 21:08.29 got the fifteenth best time.

The Nittany Lions are back in action next week for the Pre-National at Indiana State in Terre Haute, In.. The meet is set to start at 11:00 a.m.