Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sophomore Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) posted her second top-four finish in as many days as the Valparaiso women’s track and field team finished the 2012 Horizon League Indoor Championships in Youngstown, Ohio with an eighth-place finish.

The Crusaders tallied 16 points over the two-day league championship meet to finish in eighth place.  Milwaukee took the team title with 137 points.

One day after finishing fourth in the weight throw, Drozdowski posted the best effort of her career in the shot put to earn a podium finish, placing third with a toss of 44’6 ¼”.  The toss was easily a new PR for the second-year Crusader and moved her into second place in Valpo history in the event.

On the track, a pair of Crusaders registered top-ten finishes in the one mile run.  Sophomore Claire Johnson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) crossed the line in seventh place with a time of 5:08.19, with fellow sophomore Nicole Zehel (Wixom, Mich./Lutheran Westland) finishing right behind her in eighth position with a time of 5:15.88.  Zehel also ran a season-best time of 10:49.39 in the 3,000m run to finish in 19^th place, while freshman Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./North) led the Crusaders contingent in the event, crossing the line in 10:45.65 to place 18^th.

Valparaiso’s 4x400m relay team ran to a seventh-place finish on Sunday as well.  The four-person squad of Kelli Wosick, Malea Buck, Grace Shemwell and Johnson covered the distance in 4:22.22.

Valparaiso closes out the indoor season at the Alex Wilson Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame next Friday and Saturday, March 2-3.