DePaul University

July 20, 2011

CHICAGO – DePaul head track and field coach Dave Dopek announced today the addition of six student-athletes -- Kayla Schwarz, Ashley Holden, Loreal Curtis, Ayesha Ewing, Jazmyne Durrah and Amanda Piche, who have all signed a National Letter of Intent and will join DePaul for the 2011-12 season.

Schwarz, Holden, Curtis and Ewing are all sprinters while Durrah and Piche are both throwers.  The announcement of these six additional standouts rounds out Dopek’s first full recruiting class in which he has 10 newcomers joining his women’s team in Lincoln Park.

“With the addition of these talented student-athletes we look to continue the development of our sprints and throws program,” Dopek said of his six recent signees. “These young ladies have the talent and potential to raise the bar to new heights. “

Schwarz, Holden and Durrah are all Illinois natives, while Ewing hails from Missouri, Piche from Iowa and Curtis comes to Chicago from Texas.

Schwarz was a member of Hinsdale Central’s 2010 4x100 and 4x200 State Champion relay teams which catapulted the Red Devils to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Championship.  Following the 2010 season, Schwarz was named the team’s MVP.  The Clarendon Hills native comes to DePaul with a 25.49 personal best in the 200m and has clocked a PR of 57.72 in the 400m.

Holden has earned All-State honors and was crowned conference champion in 100m and 300m hurdles and in the long jump for Greenville High School.  Holden, whose sister Lindsey will be a junior on the Blue Demon roster in 2011-12, clocks in at 45.70 in 300m hurdles and her personal best in the long jump is 18’’1’. The Greenville native was named her high school’s MVP in 2010 while she graduated as her school’s valedictorian.

Curtis is a nine-time Texas Association of Private and Parochial School’s (TAPPS) 4A Champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m.  She put an exclamation point on her high school career when she won her fourth consecutive 400m title in 56.46. Curtis’ 2011 time broke her previous meet record from the season before.  Curtis comes to DePaul with a 56.11 personal best time in the 400m and has clocked a 25.12 in the 200m.  The four-time MVP of her Lutheran South Academy high school team, Curtis was selected as Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd in June of 2011.  Curtis graduated Magna Cum Laude and also earned All-State Academic honors in 2011.

Ewing rounds out DePaul’s sprinters and hails from St. Louis. At the 2011Missouri State Track meet Ewing finished first in the 100m (12.3) in Class 3, took second in the 200m (24.8) and was third in the 400m (56.6) which were all three personal bests for the senior running for Cardinal Ritter.

Durrah is familiar with DePaul’s Lane Stadium Field after graduating from Lane Tech in June.  The Chicago native is the reigning 2010 and 2011 Chicago Public Leach Champions in the shot put and discus.  Durrah won the 3A IHSA Sectional in the discus in 2010 and 2011 while she took 11th in the state meet in 2011.

Piche rounds out DePaul’s 10-member class and hails from Marion, Iowa.  The 2010 Drake Relays High School Champion in the discus was also the runner-up in 2011 in the same event.  Piche was an all-metro selection from Lin-Mar High School and won the 2011 Iowa state championship in the discus with a throw of 146 feet, 4 inches which was also a career-best by almost a foot.

“These six student-athlete’s hard work and dedication to track and field is going to become evident right away. All of these young ladies have had great success in high school and the expectation is that they come in, mesh with our existing student-athletes and become the team that we know we can ultimately be,” Dopek added.

Schwarz, Holden, Curtis, Ewing, Durrah and Piche join Danielle Hernando, Jacqueline Kasal, Kellie Lodge and Taylor Hynes who also signed a National Letter of Intent.  Hernando, Kasal, Lodge and Hynes are all cross country runners and will also run track for the Blue Demons.