Oct. 29, 2005

Complete Results in PDF Format

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio - Three of Cleveland State's seven runners turned in personal best times but it was not enough to move up in the standings as the Vikings finished ninth as a team at the Horizon League Championships, which were held on Saturday at the John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

"I am terribly proud of this group of young women," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "We were bruised and banged up going into the race yet we were able to turn in some of our best times of the year. That is a testament to the commitment that these young ladies have to Cleveland State University."

Butler's Victoria Mitchell won the individual title for the second straight year to help the Bulldogs run away with their fourth straight league title and eighth in the last 10 years.

Junior Sherri Douglas paced the Viking runners by running the 5,000-meter course in 19:56, good for 35th place. Freshman twin sisters Audrey and Julie Piotrowski finished 38th (20:10) and 41st (20:25), respectively with Christina Swierz (48th, 21:11), Madeline Singer (53rd, 22:07), Lesley Jones (55th, 22:12) and Shilah Pratt (61st, 25:54) rounding out the CSU runners.

"We had set a goal of finishing higher than ninth, but when you consider how far this team has come, our effort today was amazing," Jaketic said. "Sherri (Douglas) was running on a sprained ankle yet still came within nine seconds of her best time of the year. Christina (Swierz) has hardly been able to practice the last couple of weeks because of a leg injury yet she ran a minute faster than her previous best time.

"To keep our performance in perspective, you have to remember that we didn't even have enough runners to post a team score last year. In fact, Shilah (Pratt) was the only runner who competed at this race last year. Sherri and Christina were playing softball. Madeline was on the soccer team. Lesley was a swimmer and the twins were at Normandy High School.

"I can't wait until next year to see what we can do when we have a year to prepare," Jaketic said.

The Vikings will have two weeks to prepare for their final meet of the year, the Great Lakes Regional, which will be held on Nov. 12 in Bloomington, Ind.

Final Team Scores
1. Butler, 22 points
2. Loyola, 69
3. UW-Milwaukee, 82
4. UIC, 115
5. Detroit, 156
6. UW-Green Bay, 178
7. Wright State, 195
8. Youngstown State, 190
9. Cleveland State, 215

Individual Finishers
1. Victoria Mitchell (Butler), 17:16 (course record)
2. Jenni Pereira (Butler), 17:25
3. Ava Hutchinson (Butler), 17:48
4. Andrea Karl (Detroit), 17:58
5. Laura Macias (UIC), 18:04

CSU Finishers
35. Sherri Douglas, 19:56
38. Audrey Piotrowski, 20:10
41. Julie Piotrowski, 20:25
48. Christina Swierz, 21:11
53. Madeline Singer, 22:07
55. Lesley Jones, 22:12
61. Shilah Pratt, 25:54