Falcon Heights, Minn., Oct. 30, 2005 - The Penn State women¡¯s cross country team competed today in the Big Ten Championships, hosted by the University of Minnesota. Penn State finished tenth with a total team score of 258 points. Michigan finished first, followed by Illinois and Minnesota.

Senior Tracey Brauksieck paced the Nittany Lions and finished first for the women for the second meet in a row. Brauksieck finished 32nd overall in a time of 22:27.04. Freshman Janelle Young finished 50th in a time of 23:04.84 and was followed by sophomore Sonja Hinish who finished 55th (23:19.29).

The other top seven scorers for Penn State were freshman Claire Percival who finished 58th in a time of 23:26.94, senior and captain Kate Curran who finished 63rd (23:34.04), sophomore Nicki Bohnsack who finished 65th (23:50.69) and junior Kelly Chadwick finished 73rd (24:10.79).

Next up for the women¡¯s cross country team is the NCAA Regional II Championships on November 11th. The meet is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.