Garth, Zaiter, Valgoi Win Weekly Track Honors

INDIANAPOLIS -- UIC senior Justen Garth (Chicago, Ill.) has been named the Horizon League men's track Runner of the Week while Flames sophomore Rebecca Zaiter (Elmhurst, Ill.) and Loyola senior Gina Valgoi (Detroit, Mich.) split the women's award.

It is the first honor of the outdoor season for all three runners.

Garth picked up two of UIC's five first-place finishes at St. Joseph's Puma Invitational, outpacing 10 other runners in the 200m dash (22.73 seconds) and leading the 4x100m relay team to a win (42.85 seconds) against three other schools.

Meanwhile, at the prestigious Raleigh Relays, Zaiter set a school record on the 1500m run with a time of 4:33.23, taking first place in a field of 130 runners. Her mark is the third-best in the Horizon League this season.

Across the country at the Stanford Invitational, Valgoi took ninth place out of 30 runners in the 10,000m and broke her own school record by almost 45 seconds with a 33:07.80 finish. That time is the fourth-best in the NCAA West Region and qualifies Valgoi for the USA National Championships.

While UIC and Loyola will both compete in the Chicagoland Championships this weekend, the Ramblers are also sending participants to the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla.

2013 Horizon League Outdoor Track Runners of the Week:
March 26:            Sam Penzenstadler, Loyola; Nicole Zehel, Valparaiso
April 2:                 Justen Garth, UIC; Rebecca Zaiter, UIC & Gina Valgoi, Loyola