Sunday, May 08, 2011

The Valparaiso women's track and field team concluded action at the three-day 2011 Horizon League Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. on Sunday afternoon, finishing the meet in eighth place.

The Crusaders tallied 12 points over the course of the meet to finish in eighth place.  Milwaukee took home the team championship with 174 points.

Freshman Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) registered Valpo's top finish of the championship meet on Sunday afternoon with a third-place effort in the shot put.  Drozdowski unleashed a toss of 41'8 3/4”, her PR at the collegiate level in the event and improving upon her third-best mark in program history as well.

Freshman Claire Johnson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) recorded a top-ten finish of her own on Sunday, crossing the line in the 1,500m run in seventh place with a time of 4:42.98.  The time set a new collegiate PR in the event for the rookie by nearly 15 seconds, and came just over two seconds away from cracking Valpo's all-time top-five.  Also in the 1,500m run, freshman Nicole Zehel (Wixom, Mich./Lutheran Westland) covered the distance in 4:59.29, good for 12th place, while freshman Grace Shemwell (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) placed 15th with a time of 5:05.49, both PRs as well.

Sophomore Haley Kerlin (Rensselaer, Ind./Rensselaer) paced the Crusader contingent in the 5,000m run Sunday, placing 19th with a time of 19:56.44.  Senior Jorie Ballun (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) teamed up with Shemwell, Zehel and Johnson to comprise the Valpo 4x400m relay squad, finishing in eighth place by crossing the line in 4:17.60.