Sept. 18, 2006

Contact: Josh Rattray

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Cleveland State Women's Cross Country - Meet 4

Ohio Invitational

Date: Saturday, Sept. 23

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Site: Athens, Ohio

THE STARTING LINE: The Cleveland State women's cross country team will compete at the Ohio Invitational in Athens, Ohio on Saturday (Sept. 23). The meet, CSU's fourth of seven in the regular season, is slated to start at 11:00 a.m.

FOUR POST SEASON-BESTS TIMES: The third meet of the season was the charm for four CSU runners, as a quartet of Vikings posted season-best times at the Toledo Invitational. Freshman Caitlan Ebner ran a season-best 20:10, which was good for a 24th place finish overall. Sophomore Madeline Singer, freshman Colleen Conway and senior Shannon Graves also posted season-best times. Singer ran a 22:14 and Conway a 23:03. Graves, a former CSU softball player, clocked in at 23:10.

FRESHMAN LEADER: Caitlan Ebner has been the top runner for the Vikings in each of their three meets this season. In her first collegiate meet at the Bill Sudeck Invitational on Sept. 2, the North Royalton, Ohio native led the Vikings with a 20:42. At the Tom Evans Invitational in Akron on Sept. 9, she posted a 20:32 to finish first for the Vikings.

JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY'RE AT FULL STRENGTH: The Vikings have been short-handed in each of their three meets this season. In the season opener on Sept. 2, CSU was without Shannon Graves and for the past two meets sophomores Audrey and Julie Piotrowski have been unable to run due to injuries. In addition, junior Christina Swierz did not race at Toledo because she was playing with the Viking softball team.

ADDITIONS TO THE SQUAD: Freshman Colleen Conway and sophomore Melissa Mazanec have been added to the Viking roster, bringing the squad to nine runners. Conway, one of two freshmen on the team, has run in the past two meets. Mazanec, a former CSU soccer player, completed her first collegiate meet at the Toledo Invitational after not finishing at the Tom Evans Invitational.

JAKETIC ON THE VIKINGS: "Our runners have been very tough. As a team, we have been short-handed at times, but our team has stepped up and competed against some very tough competition. This past week, we had some runners post personal-bests, so I know that we are continuing to improve every week.

UP NEXT: The Vikings travel to the All-Ohio Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 23 in Delaware, Ohio. The race is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.