Oct. 6, 2006

Contact: Josh Rattray

DELAWARE, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's cross country team ran to a 31^st place finish on Friday (Oct. 6) afternoon at the All-Ohio Championship. 38 teams and 264 runners from all over the state competed in the meet, which was hosted by Ohio Wesleyan.

Freshman Caitlan Ebner finished first for the Vikings with a time of 21:22. Ebner, whose time was good for 148^th overall, now has led CSU in each of the team's five meets.

Junior Christina Swierz was next for the Vikings with a season-best time of 22:13. Her previous best was 23:02 at the season-opening Bill Sudeck Invitational on Sept. 2. Freshman Colleen Conway (22:20) was third for the Vikings and senior Sherri Douglas was fourth (23:05).

"Christine had a very fast run today," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "She's been out with the softball team for the last few meets and it was good to see her run so well."

Sophomore Madeline Singer, who has been in the team's top three in every meet this season, clocked in at 23:24 to finish fifth on the team. Sophomore Audrey Piotrowski, who had not competed in a meet since the Sudeck Invitational because of injury, ran a 23:37, and sophomore Melisa Mazanec (24:21) rounded out the Viking lineup.

"It was good for our team to run in that meet against some very tough competition. We now have a better idea of where we need to be to compete."

Ohio University placed first in the team standings with 63 points. Ohio State (73) finished second, Case Western Reserve (161) was third and Cedarville University (177) was fourth. CSU finished with 948 points.

The Vikings' next meet is on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Falcon Invitational in Bowling Green, Ohio. The meet is slated for a 10:45 a.m. start.