STATE COLLEGE, PA., NOV. 17, 2003- The No. 17 ranked Penn State womenĄŻs cross country team was chosen as an at-large selection by the NCAA Division I MenĄŻs and WomenĄŻs Track and Field Committee and will compete at the NCAA Championships on Nov 24 in Waterloo, Iowa. The top two teams from each of the nine regional meets on Nov. 15 automatically qualified. At-large selections, totaling 13, were then chosen today to bring the total number of teams to 31. The top four individuals that were not on one of the qualifying teams and two additional individual runners were selected to compete at the Championships bringing the total number of individual qualifiers to 38. The Nittany Lions took fourth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet at Lock Haven University on Nov. 15. Junior Molly Landreth (Newburyport, Mass.) led the Penn State Nittany Lions to a fourth place team finish. Juniors Michelle Wale (Pine Bush, N.Y.) and Chelsea Lenge (West Hartford, Conn.) also turned in stellar performances finishing in the top 20. This is the second straight year that Penn State will be competing at the NCAA Championships after finishing third at the Mid-Atlantic Regional in 2002. Tracey Brauksieck posted the highest finish by a Penn State runner since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten at the 2002 Mid-Atlantic Regional. Landreth also joined Brauksieck on the 2002 All-Regional team with her 20th place finish. Penn State went on to finish 25th at the 2002 NCAA Championships with Brauksieck and Landreth leading the team, placing 73rd and 105th, respectively. The NCAA Championships will be hosted by the University of Northern Iowa at the Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course on Nov. 24. The womenĄŻs race is set to start at 12:15 p.m.
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