Strong winds and puddles were not the ideal conditions the BGSU women’s cross country team had in mind when they arrived in Buffalo for the Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday.
Nevertheless, those were the conditions they had to deal with. The conditions didn’t deter them though. The team took second place in the meet behind Ohio University. The finish proved the preseason coach’s poll wrong. It predicted the Falcons to finish sixth in the MAC.
“We have had a very solid season and we knew that if we could pull it all together on the same day that we were capable of being one of the top teams in the MAC,” said coach Cami Wells.
For the first time this season it was Kim Settle leading the way for the Falcons, who trekked through the mud and rain to finish fourth overall with a time of 20:41. Her fourth place finish in the MAC Championships was the best finish by a BG runner since 1998 when Hanane Sabri and Wendy Licht Ordway finished second and third for the Falcons.
“I knew that everyone was running through the same muddy mess, so I went after it with no excuses,” said Settle. “We had to stay tough through the really deep patches, and concentrate on striding out whenever there was a chance.”
Jamie Roflow finished with a time of 20:50. She was running in the fifth position going into the final stretch of the race, but slipped and fell due to the muddy course and ended up finishing seventh overall after regaining her composure.
“Jamie ran a great race, she struggled with the muddy conditions a little in the beginning but was able to fight her way back and made up a lot of ground throughout the race,” Wells said.
Along with Settle, Roflow received First Team All-MAC honors for the first time in her career after the race.
“I am very proud of Kim and Jamie; they have done a great job of leading us all season,” Wells said. “It is a lot of pressure to lead a team and Jamie and Kim have always come through for us so it is nice to see all of their hard work recognized.”
Next to cross the finish line for the Falcons was Carly Bates, who finished 28th overall and Kara Butler who finished 31st overall. Rounding out the top five for the Falcons was Stephanie Hillman who finished 43rd overall, closing the gap to 1:16 between herself and Settle, something Wells has been preaching the importance of all season.
“[Closing the gaps] is what allowed us to be successful as a team,” Wells said. “We needed each person to do her job in order to have a successful team finish and they accomplished that on Saturday.”
