State College, Pa., Oct. 17, 2002 - Penn State freshman cross country sensation Tracey Brauksieck (Homer, N.Y.) was awarded the Women's Athlete of the Week honor in cross country by the Big Ten Conference on Wednesday. It is her second such honor on the season.

Brauksieck led the Nittany Lions for the fourth-straight race at last Saturday's Penn State National with a fifth place finish overall. Her performance helped Penn State to a third place team finish in a tough 19-team field featuring four ranked teams.

Brauksieck's time of 21:06.79 bettered her previous best on the course by four seconds and placed her name among the Top 20 course times on the Penn State Blue/White circuit for the second time this season.

Penn State moved up to No. 22 this week in the FinishLynx/NCAA Poll after knocking off previous No. 22 William & Mary last week and finishing just behind No. 8 Providence and No. 21 Villanova.

The Nittany Lions will be tested this week at the Asics/Pacesetter Pre-National at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. A very large field featuring 20 of the Top 25 ranked teams will be entered in two 6,000-meter races. Penn State is scheduled to compete at 11:35 a.m.