Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Kayla Brown (Petersburg, Ill.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week. Brown, a sophomore for the Cougars, paced her team at the Bradley Open in Peoria, Illinois on Friday.

She led the Cougars to a second-place finish in the Collegiate Division of the 5K event by placing sixth overall in a time of 18:36. Brown was the second Collegiate Division runner to cross the finish line.

Her time of 18:36 is 17th on the SIUE all-time 5K list and just three seconds shy of her season-best time from a year ago.

SIUE finished with a team score of 64 and finished just behind Olivet Nazarene which posted a final score of 45. The Cougars were the top-placing GLVC team at the event as Lewis finished fifth in the eight-team field.

Brown, the 2006 GLVC Freshman of the Year, is a first-time recipient of the GLVC Runner of the Week award.

SIUE will return to action at the Eastern Illinois University Panther Open on Friday.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Bellarmine’s Jamie Rife, Drury’s Elizabeth Hurford and Northern Kentucky’s Alisha Hansman.