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Contact: Kevin Zeise

Sept. 15, 2003

CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State women's cross country team will head to Northwest Ohio for the second time in two weeks when they travel to the Toledo Invitational, hosted by the University of Toledo, on Saturday, Sept. 20. Saturday's race will begin at 10 a.m.

Last Week
Shariah Pratt (Wickliffe, Ohio) led the Viking runners for the second week in a row at the Mel Brodt Invitational in Bowling Green on Sat., Sept. 13. Pratt finished 46th on the day, finishing in 20:36 on the 5k course. Vanessa Anna (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Joseph Academy) was the next CSU finisher, coming in 22:25, good for 49th place. Tina Peric (Euclid, Ohio) finished shortly after in 50th place (23:15), while Julene Nickoloff (Vermilion, Ohio/Clearview) was 51st in 22:45. Shilah Pratt (Wickliffe, Ohio) was 52nd in 24:47 and Marlene Przykling (Ingersoll, Ont., Can./Ingersoll) finished 53rd in 25:24. Leah Kenner (Thief River Falls, Minn./Lincoln) rounded out the Viking runners, finishing 54th in 28:06.

Watch For Falling Times
While cross country courses may vary from site to site, the distance is often the same. With that in mind, several Viking runners saw a significant drop in 5K times from the Tommy Evans Invitational on Sept. 6 to the Mel Brodt Invitational on Sept. 13. Shariah Pratt, the top CSU finisher in each event, dropped nearly 40 seconds off her time, while Vanessa Anna cut more than a minute off her time at the Akron meet. Julene Nickoloff also saw her time drop by 35 seconds. Interestingly, Tina Peric's time remained the same at 23:15 for both meets.

Up Next
After a week off, the Vikings will head to Athens, Ohio, for the Ohio Invitational on Oct. 4.