BGSU’s track and field team brought a couple trophies home this weekend after representing itself well this past weekend at the All-Ohio Championships in Columbus.
The team finished in third place with 99 points behind the winner, Akron, and host Ohio State, which finished second.
Jessica White, Takara Dunning and Stephanie Hillman won individual events to aid the Falcons in the team race.
White’s performance in the 100-meter dash will live in Falcon history, as she recorded the second-fastest time in program history. Her time of 11.58 seconds qualified her for the NCAA Regional meet.
Dunning also qualified for regionals with a personal record in the shot put. Her mark of 48 feet 6 inches bested that of the 2006 indoor Mid-American Conference Champion.
Hillman seems to perform well at the biggest of stages, as the defending 10,000-meter champion converted her skills to the 5,000 for this year’s competition. Showing no signs of struggling with the change, Hillman won the title in 18:10.71. Bridget Dalic, who finished sixth (18:44.30) and Colleen Moran, eighth place, (18:48.23) gave the Falcons a strong showing in the event.
With the individual titles and the third-place finish as a team, BG was able to meet its goals. The Falcons knew depth would be an issue when competing against Akron and OSU.
“I think our team expectations were met,” Kylie Korsnack said. “We knew that we had the ability to come out of All-Ohio with a third place finish, we just had to go out there and compete, and we did.”
The Falcons had plenty of supporting roles to the winners as well. In the 10,000-meter, Andrea Pollack finished in second with a time of 39:07.00.
Another second place finish was earned by Nicole Standback in the 100-meter hurdles. She set a new personal record with a time of 14.18 seconds.
BGSU also had competitive performances in the 3,000 meter steeplechase from Jamie Roflow and Kim Settle. Roflow finished in third with a time of 11:05.90 while Settle placed in sixth with a time of 11:46.04.
“I think that we all gave it our best and stepped up to the challenge of the competition that we had to face,” said Angela Raizis. “It’s hard when you have one team that dominates in a lot of areas like Akron and OSU, but we definitely didn’t let that stop us from performing and being right up there with them as much as we could.”
The 400-meter relay team of Standback, Lyndi Springer, White and Amanda Sefcik turned in a time of 48.94 seconds, which was good enough for fourth place. The 1600-meter relay team of Springer, Lacey Cochran, Megan McAuley and Raizis finished seventh in a time of 4:09.06.
The Falcons also received strong performances from Andi Bunko (third in javelin), Lauren Bryant (fourth in discus throw) and Whitney Hartman (sixth in hammer throw). Hartman also competed in the shot put, placing eighth.
Now, the team must focus on a quick turnaround as they head to Toledo on Thursday for a triangular against the Rockets and Northern Illinois. They have not seen the Rockets in awhile and it is sure to be another compelling chapter in the rivalry between the two schools.
“We are definitely looking to do some positive things at Thursday’s Toledo meet,” Raizis said. “These past meets have given us the momentum to come at Toledo as strong as ever and hopefully come out victorious in the end.”
Korsnack believes the momentum gained this weekend will help the team reach its goals this weekend and beyond.
“As a team I think this weekend was a great confidence builder,” she said. “That is the best we’ve performed as a team all year and hopefully we can continue to get better. It was a great meet to lead us into Thursday where we will meet Toledo for the first time since indoor season. Hopefully it will give us some momentum because we are always looking to beat Toledo.”
