Romeoville, Ill. – Senior Ashley Shares (Palos Park, Ill./Moraine Valley CC/Stagg) hit a "B" standard qualifying time and set a school record in the 10K (10,000 meters) to highlight the Saint Xavier University women's track team's weekend at the Chicagoland Outdoor Championships hosted by Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill.  Shares finished second overall in the event with a time of 37.41.77, nearly 32 seconds under the national qualifying mark of 38:13.00.  Another key highlight for the squad from the meet was the near qualification of the 4x800 meter relay team consisting of seniors Jackie Ott (Island Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) and Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes) as well as junior Leslie Rosario (Fort Myers, Fla./Neosho County CC/Fort Myers North) and freshman Christa Pitts (Franklin Park, Ill./Leyden, Ill.).  The relay team just missed the qualifying mark by .21 seconds with a time of 9:32.21.

CHICAGO – Finishing fourth overall in the indoor mile with a school record time of 5:01.97 and claiming All-American honors at the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships last week in Geneva, Ohio, Saint Xavier University senior Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes) of the Saint Xavier University women's track team has been selected as the World Hyundai-Saint Xavier February Athlete of the Month when the honor was announced Monday.  Dean, a nursing major at SXU, will be publicly honored with a certificate from World Hyundai-Matteson prior to this Tuesday's 7 p.m. men's volleyball match against Clarke College (Wis.) at the Shannon Center in Chicago.  In addition to her impressive feat in the indoor mile, Dean also ran a leg of SXU's Distance Medley Relay (DMR) at the national meet helping the team to a 10^th place finish and a school record time of 12:20.76.

Geneva, Ohio – With the first of three days of competition in the books for the 2013 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Geneva, Ohio, the Saint Xavier University women's track team had a couple of noteworthy highlights. First, senior Ashley Shares (Palos Park, Ill./Moraine Valley CC/Stagg) took fifth place in her preliminary heat and ninth overall to qualify for the finals of the 5,000 meter run (5K) with a time of 17:59.96.  Second, SXU's distance medley relay (DMR) team set a new school record and finished third in its heat and 10^th overall with a time of 12:20.76.  The team just missed qualifying for the finals with the top eight teams advancing.  Juniors Leslie Rosario (Fort Myers, Fla./Neosho County CC/Fort Myers North) and Anna Galvez (Glenview, Ill./Oakton CC/Maine East) as well as seniors Jackie Ott (Island Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) and Rachael Dean (Lindenhurst, Ill./Judson University/Lakes) made up the DMR squad.