Thursday, April 21, 2011

Freshman Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) tallied three top-four finishes to lead the way as a limited portion of the Valparaiso women's track and field squad was in action Thursday afternoon at the Anderson Invitational in Anderson, Ind.

Drozdowski approached her season-best marks in all three events she competed in on Thursday.  The freshman recorded her best finish in the hammer throw, earning a runner-up placement with a toss of 150'5”.  Drozdowski also registered a podium finish in the shot put, placing third with a mark of 40'0 3/4”, and recorded a mark of 125'3” in the discus throw, good for fourth place.

Fellow freshman Kelley Freeman (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) also competed on the infield Thursday, vaulting to a fifth-place finish in the pole vault by clearing 10'0” even.  On the track, senior Jorie Ballun (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) set a new PR in the 400m hurdles, finishing tenth with a time of 1:11.26, while freshman Grace Shemwell (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) narrowly missed a top-ten of her own in the 1,500m run, placing 11th by crossing the line in 5:16.52.

Valparaiso returns to action on Saturday, April 30 at the Stan Lyons Invitational in Indianapolis, Ind.  Action that day is slated for a 3 p.m. CDT start.