May 14, 2005

WOMEN'S COLLEGIATE TRACK AND FIELD---Northern Illinois University at Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships / Ohio University, host / Athens, OH / Thursday-Saturday / May 13-15, 2005

TEAM SCORES:
1. Kent State 129
2. Akron 122
3. Eastern Michigan 118
4. Western Michigan 98
5. Central Michigan 85
6. Ball State 64
7. Buffalo 59
8. Miami (Ohio) 53
9. Northern Illinois 33
10. Bowling Green 32
11. Ohio 16
t-12. Marshall 5
t-12. Toledo 5

Complete Individual Results

Czajka earns NIU's first MAC track title since resurrecting sport, leads Huskies to ninth at league summit
ATHENS, OH--- This performance has been almost 25 years in the making. Senior Alicja Czajka became Northern Illinois University's first Mid-American Conference track and field event titlist since the Huskies resurrected the sport from a 19-year hiatus in 2000-01 and scored 18 points by herself on the weekend to lead the Huskies to ninth place at the MAC Outdoor Championships which concluded Saturday (May 14) at Ohio University.

NIU racked up 33 team points to earn its ninth-place finish---both new standards since track was brought back to DeKalv five seasons ago. Kent State University won the event with 129 tallies, narrowly edging out the University of Akron who closed out the three-day competition at 122. Eastern Michigan University was the only other school to crack the 100-point barrier, ending up third at 118.

Czajka (Swarzedz, Poland / Poznan) made quite a splash in her final MAC appearance, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase---an event she already regionally qualified for back in March---with a time of 10:44.28. The senior topped her nearest competition---Rachael Lowe of Western Michigan University---by more than five seconds on her way to victory. Czajka then delivered a 17:02.45 in the 5,000-meter run that was good enough for second place in that event to close out her 18-point weekend.

Sophomore Ashley Morrow (O'Fallon, IL / O'Fallon) was already slated to join Czajka at the NCAA Mideast Regional after qualifying in the shot put at the Central Collegiate Championships back on Apr. 23. Morrow can now add another event to her schedule that weekend after grabbing fourth place in the hammer throw with a regionally-qualifying effort of 178 feet, one inch. With her two-event trip to Bloomington, IN, Morrow becomes the first multi-event regional qualifier in school history.

Margaret Gorski (Elmwood Park, IL / Elmwood Park)---the third member of NIU's regional qualifying trio didn't disappoint either, finishing back-to-back with Morrow in the shot put to earn the Huskies seven more team points. Gorski reached 47 feet, 4.5 inches to take home sixth-place honors while Morrow's 48-foot, 1.75-inch toss was good enough for fifth place.

Northern Illinois' relay squad rounded out the weekend's scoring, posting a school-record 3:48.74 in the 4x400-meter relay to earn three more tallies. Three current 4x400 runners were also on the original record setting crew from the Lee Calhoun Invitational back on Apr. 12, 2003. Leadoff runner Ajahnae Hinley (Chicago, IL / Whitney Young), third leg April Lowery (Chicago, IL / Morgan Park), and anchor Lorene Skipper (Hendersonville, TN / Beech) were all part of that record-setting crew and were joined by Angela Thomas (Chicago, IL / Whitney Young) who ran the second leg to help set the new standard in Athens.

The three Huskies who qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional have a couple weeks to fine-tune and prepare themselves for the trip to Bloomington, IN. Action is slated to begin on the campus of Indiana University Friday, May 27, and run through Saturday (May 28) afternoon.

-NIU-