The University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s Valerie Hubbard (Norwalk, Wis.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week. Hubbard, a senior runner for the Rangers, was among a group of strong finishers for the 8th-ranked UW-Parkside cross country team at the Indiana Wesleyan Invitational on Saturday.

Hubbard placed fourth overall in the 5,000-meter race and battled hot and humid weather conditions to turn in a time of 18:56. She was just ten seconds behind teammate Naomi Fulton and 31 seconds behind teammate Jessica Lamp who finished third and second overall, respectively.

Her efforts helped the Rangers post a team score of 34, good for second-place at the event. UW-Parkside finished just behind Indiana Wesleyan, ranked sixth in NAIA, which posted a team score of 31 to win the meet.

Hubbard has continued her season-long push toward the front of the Rangers’ pack. The 2006 GLVC Runner-Up was 58 seconds behind Lamp at the team’s first meet and 57 seconds behind her in the second meet of the year.

UW-Parkside will return to action at the Lucian Rosa Invite on Saturday.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Southern Indiana’s Marcia Weflen.