Oct. 10, 2009

Contact: Greg Murphy

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Cleveland State cross country team made its weekend in Florida an memorable one by placing 10th of 30 teams at the Walt Disney Classic on Saturday morning.

CSU, which flew to an event for the first time in program history, ran together as a team for most of the race as there was less than one minute between the Vikings first and fifth finisher, the smallest gap in program history.

"I was really pleased with how we competed and ran today," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "It was close to 90 degrees when we ran this morning so I figured the times would be a little slower, but the team battled through and competed hard. We were hoping for faster times, but the conditions were really tough to run in and I'm happy with the way we finished."

Sophomore Brittany Elmlinger was the Vikings top finisher, placing 61st in 20:49. Sophomore Andria Bazilevich was 78th in 21:10.

"Andria really stepped it up today and ran a great race," Jaketic said.

Sophomore Kelly Zaleski was the next CSU finisher, placing 81st in 21:14, while Jordan Hoile was 89th in 21:22.

"This is really going to be an experience that the team will remember forever," Jaketic said. "We competed as hard as we could and now we are going to unwind and relax a little bit."

The Vikings will be back in action next Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Falcon Invitational in Bowling Green, Ohio.

CSU RESULTS
61. Brittany Elmlinger, 20:49
78. Andria Bazilevich, 21:10
81. Kelly Zaleski, 21:14
89. Jordan Hoile, 21:22
108. Allison Craine, 21:41
122. Rachel Niemi, 21:57