WOOSTER, Ohio – The Cleveland State cross country team opened the 2021 campaign Wednesday evening, posting four top-10 finishes at the Wooster Invitational, which was run on a 4K course.

The Vikings were paced by freshman Madelynn Madison who finished fifth overall in her first collegiate race, finishing the 4K race in a time of 15:44.

"This was a good litmus test to let us know where we are as a team, and what we need to work on moving forward this season," head coach Jason Hudson said. "We really need to focus on the second part of the race, because that will be a big part of our success this season. I was very happy to have four runners finish in the top-10 – including a freshman leading the way in Madelynn. We had just a 27-second gap between our No. 1 and No. 5 runners, which is a really good place to be early in the season. Now we just need this pack to stay together and move up in our future races."

Hannah Korte, Kiannah Sarver and Emily Nemeth was the next trio of Vikings to cross the finish line, with all three finishing in the top-10. Korte placed eighth overall with a time of 15:56, while Sarver made her CSU debut with a time of 15:57 to finish ninth, and Nemeth placed 10^th with a time of 16:02.

Cleveland State's next two finishers were also making their CSU cross country debuts, with Ariana Coats finishing 14^th (16:11) and Margaret Smith placing 17^th (16:20).

Sara Timberlake posted Cleveland State's seventh top-25 time at the Wooster Invitational, placing 22^nd overall with a time of 16:52.

Also making appearances for the Vikings in the season opener were Colette Conway (33^rd), Kaelin Stahl (41^st), Zoe Lexovsky (44^th), and Leanne Eichorn (62^nd).

Cleveland State will return to action at the Tommy Titan Invite next weekend, with the women's race slated for an 11:15 a.m. start on Saturday, September 11.