After another strong outing in her second race of the year, junior Katherine Ferrara of the Merrimack College women's cross country program was named this week's Fuddruckers Female Athlete of the Week.

After winning the Shacklette Invitational two weeks ago, Ferrara picked up right where she left off at last weekend's UMass Dartmouth Invitational. The Norfolk, Massachusetts, native placed third overall at a race with a much bigger field and was the fastest Warrior runner for the second straight event, finishing with a time of 18:19.44 that smashed the old school record of 18:43.

The junior has placed no lower than third in the first two races of the season and trimmed more than a minute off her season-opening time (19:25.7) last weekend at UMass Dartmouth (18:19.5). 

She and the rest of the Warriors will look to keep rising this Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston when they compete in the Codfish Bowl beginning at 10 a.m.