Oct. 4, 2004

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Contact: David Barry

SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings are in preparation for the All-Ohio Championships to be run Friday, Oct. 8th at 2:45 p.m. The Championships, put on by Ohio Wesleyan University, are run at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. The Vikings finished 38th in the race last season with Shariah Pratt turning in a team-best time of 21:12, which placed her 153rd.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State has not placed in any of the meets of the season. The team has been forced to run without a full team of competitors because of an injury to junior Jennifer Ricica. Her absence has forced Cleveland State to run with just four runners, eliminating them from placing any of the team competitions thus far this season. Vanessa Anna ran a 23:53 at the Championships last year, while Shilah Pratt and Julene Nickoloff turned in 25:13 and 25:26, respectively. The Vikings will look to build on their experience in this championship for better individual times this year.

HAD TO GET A COACH: Allison Had, a former standout runner at Arizona State University and a native of northeast Ohio, will take over this season as the head women's cross country coach at Cleveland State University. After graduating from Arizona State in 1998, Had worked for one year as assistant cross country coach and women's athletic recruiter at Scottsdale Community College. In 1999, she moved to Charlotte, N.C. to take over as aquatics director for the central branch of the YMCA, a position she held for two years. Had returned to Northeast Ohio in June of 2000 to become marketing director for the Wild Oats Community Market in Woodmere, Ohio. She began teaching in the fall of 2001 at St. Gregory the Great School in South Euclid, a position she held for two years before moving to S.S. Peter and Paul in 2003. She has competed in five marathons all over the world, and was a standout runner at Kenston High School, Flagler College, and Arizona State. Had also started the Cleveland Triathlon Club, growing it to over 250 current members.

SEEING IMPROVEMENT: Each of the Viking runners cut down their times from one week ago at the Ohio Invitational, with Vanessa Anna dropping a whopping three minutes. "We saw improvement in our times this week," coach Allison Had said after the meet. "The girls were more mentally tough during the run, and it showed in the results. We now have a week off to get some good workouts in preparation for the All-Ohio next weekend."

UP NEXT: The Vikings will race at Bowling Green on Saturday, Oct. 16th with the run slated to begin at 10:30 a.m.