After running the best race of her collegiate career in order to earn a spot on Seattle University's travel squad for the conference championships, sophomore Amy Tolentino (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) has been named the Western Athletic Conference Female Runner of the Week, announced Tuesday by the conference office.

With two spots for the conference meet still up for grabs, Tolentino was the team's top finisher at last Friday's Beaver Classic in Corvallis, Ore., finishing in 50^th place overall with a time of 24:05. She posted a time one minute and 21 seconds faster than the mark she finished with at the same event one year ago.

Tolentino has shown significant improvement from her freshman campaign, beginning the year by cutting over one minute off her time at the UW/SU Open at Magnuson Park. She improved her time at the UW Sundodger Invitational by one minute and 23 seconds, and she recently cut 47 seconds off her 2011 mark at the Emerald City Open.

"Amy has worked hard this year to turn her weaknesses into strengths. It's been great to see her gain confidence from that transformation. Her determination at the Beaver Classic was unlike anything I've seen from her before and propelled her to earn a spot at the conference meet this coming weekend," Seattle U head cross country and track & field coach Trisha Steidl said.

Tolentino and the rest of the Seattle University cross country team that qualified for the conference meet will leave early Thursday morning for Ruston, La., in preparation for the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships Saturday, Oct. 27. The women's race will begin at 9 a.m. Central time, with the men's event scheduled to start at 10 a.m. local time.