Friday, January 13, 2012

The Valparaiso women’s track and field team got a pair of seventh-place finishes from Claire Johnson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), as well as a seventh-place finish from Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./North) as the distance runners led the way for the Crusaders at the Bob Eubanks Open in Allendale, Mich. on Friday, hosted by Grand Valley State.

Johnson recorded her seventh-place finishes in the 800m run and the one mile run, finishing seventh in a field of 32 runners in the latter event.  The sophomore covered the 800m in 2:25.73 and the mile in 5:08.71.  Meanwhile, Richardson finished seventh out of 36 runners in the 3,000m run, as the freshman crossed the line in the 3K with a time of 10:38.96.

Elsewhere on the track, sophomore Nicole Zehel (Wixom, Mich./Lutheran Westland) finished just a few spots behind Johnson in the mile run, crossing the line in 12^th place with a time of 5:22.84.  Freshman Kelli Wosick (Mount Prospect, Ill./Saint Viator) covered the 300m dash in 45.37 seconds, good for 16^th place.

On the infield, sophomore Sarah Drozdowski (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) posted a pair of top-12 showings in the throws on Friday.  Drozdowski earned a top-10 finish in the shot put, placing tenth thanks to a toss of 39’11 ½”.  Meanwhile, the sophomore’s effort of 52’5 ½” in the weight throw was good for 12^th place.

Valparaiso returns to the track next weekend at the Wisconsin Elite Invitational in Madison, Wis.  The two-day meet begins Friday afternoon, January 20 at 1 p.m. CST.