Valparaiso sophomore Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./North) has been named the Horizon League women’s cross country Runner of the Week for the second straight weekend of competition following a second-place finish at the Evansville Invitational on Saturday.

Richardson covered the 5K course at Evansville in a time of 18:09.15 to finish in second place in the 55-runner field.  The time marked Richardson’s second-best 5K time of her career and was 25 seconds faster than she covered the same course a season ago.  The sophomore has now posted top-ten finishes in all four of Valpo’s races in 2012, and becomes the first Crusader to earn multiple cross country Runner of the Week honors since Laura Rolf in 2007.

Richardson and the rest of the Crusaders now set their sights on the 2012 Horizon League Championships, hosted by Milwaukee in Kenosha, Wis. on Saturday, Oct. 27.