Oct. 3, 2005

Contact: Brian Wolff

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings look for Ohio supremacy on Friday, Oct. 7 when they head to the All-Ohio Invitational at Ohio Wesleyan. The race is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. The Vikings were off last week in preperation for the five kilometer race.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: Running in a six kilometer race for the first time this year, the Vikings finished six of eight at the Great Lakes Pre-Regional. For the third week in a row Sherri Douglas led the squad. Douglas finished in 15th place in 23:16 and was followed Julie Piotrowski and Audrey Piotrowski who came in 34th place in 23:57 and 39th place in 24:41, respectively. Madeline Singer, Lesley Jones, and Shilah Pratt rounded it out for the Vikings in 71st place in 28:14, 72nd place in 28:17 and 80th place in 32:02, respectively.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: The Vikings feature a seven member team that has competed in three races so far. In all three meets, team captain Sherri Douglas has led the Vikings squad. Her best time of the season was at the Mel Brodt Invitational where she finished in 19:58. She has been followed by Julie and Audrey Piotrowski in each of the last two races. The Vikings also have Lesley Jones and Shilah Pratt, who following cross country will join their winter sports of swimming and fencing, respectively. Madeline Singer, a member of the innagural women's soccer team and Amanda Whitmer round out the 2005 squad.

SWIERZ JOINS THE SQUAD: Head coach Joe Jaketic added another runner to the Viking roster this week as sophomore Christina Swierz has joined the team after completing her obligations with the CSU softball team over the weekend. Swierz, who was 1-5 with a 3.12 ERA in 15 games as a freshman last year, will run in the final five meets this fall before rejoining the softball team in January. Swierz becomes the fifth different runner to also compete in another sport at CSU.

JAKETIC ON THE ADDITION: "The addition of Christina is great because it gives us another excellent runner. She has already been working very hard and I am excited to have her join the squad.

TRIPLETS?: Junior Sherri Douglas may as well be the third Piotrowski sister. Through two races Douglas and Julie and Audrey Piotrowski have led the Viking charge and finished one-two-three in the last two races. Douglas and Julie Piotrowski finished one-two, both under 20 minutes, at the Mel Brodt Invitational to start 2005, but Audrey Piotrowski sat out recovering from an illness. It was the first time multiple CSU runners ran under 20 minutes on the Bowling Green campus since three CSU runners accomplished it in 1996.

UP NEXT: The Vikings head back to Bowling Green, Ohio for the Falcon Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 10:45 a.m.