Oct. 10, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

DELAWARE, Ohio - Cleveland State ran to a 29th place finish out of 41 schools at the annual All-Ohio Championships on Friday afternoon at the Methodist Theological School. Ohio Wesleyan served as the host school.

The Vikings, who placed 31st at last year's event, had three athletes run better times than CSU's top finisher last season when Allison Craine ran a 21:39.

"This was the most challenging course that we will run all season," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "I ran the team as hard as I ever have in the last three years at practice this week and they all responded with great runs today.

"The team is extremely upbeat and excited and very positive. We are really getting in great shape for the conference championships in three weeks and hopefully we will just be reaching our peak at that time."

Junior Colleen Conway was CSU's top finisher for the fifth straight week, finishing 103rd in 20:21. Her time was more than two minutes better than last season when she ran a 22:22 at the All-Ohio Championships.

"Colleen has really been working hard and has looked great the last six weeks or so," Jaketic said. "I told her that she needed to be right around 20:20 and that's where she was."

Freshman Brittany Elmlinger was right behind Conway, placing 121st in 20:39.

Elmlinger was going to travel to North Carolina to visit her sister and her one-month old newborn after the race, but received a bit of a surprise prior to today's race as Elmlinger's sister and baby both attended the race with several other family members.

"Brittany looked very strong and ran an outstanding time," Jaketic said. "She also had a nice surprise prior to the race which was a nice touch."

Andria Bazilevich was 165th in 21:19, becoming the third and final Viking to finish with a better time than any other CSU runner at last year's event.

Kelly Zaleski was 188th in 21:48, while Melisa Mazanec rounded out CSU's scoring, placing 240th in 24:14.

Each team in the field was allowed to run seven runners with the top five counting in the score. However, the Vikings had their lineup trimmed to six prior to the race as Audrey Piotrowski was forced out of the race due to illnedd.

The Vikings will be back in action next Saturday (Oct. 18) when CSU travels to the Falcon Invitational for a 10:45 a.m. race.

CSU RESULTS
103. Colleen Conway, 20:21
121. Brittany Elmlinger, 20:39
165. Andria Bazilevich, 21:19
188. Kelly Zaleski, 21:48
240. Melisa Mazanec, 24:14
263. Amy Salzman, 25:30

CSU RESULTS IN OPEN RACE (Did Not Count in Team Score)
Jordan Hoile, 23:39
Julie Piotrowski, 24:15