Jamie Roflow was the first BGSU runner to cross the finish line in the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. But that wasn’t enough, as the BG women’s cross country team finished in a distant 21st place in Minneapolis, Minn.

“Overall I was pretty pleased with the way the team competed,” said BG coach Cami Wells. “The Roy Griak meet features some of the toughest competition in the nation, and I thought we ran a solid race.”

Roflow placed 49th of 288 runners with an overall time of 22:31, ranking her sixth all time on the BGSU 6K list. Her time was also the second best in school history on the Roy Griak course.

“I didn’t get out fast enough in the beginning, I spent the first part of the race trapped in a large group of people and it was difficult to move up,” Roflow said. “Personally, I do not feel I did as well as I could have, and as a team we feel that we could have placed higher.”

Setting a personal best, yet again for the Falcons was senior Kim Settle, who finished 63rd, 14 seconds behind Roflow with a time of 22:44. A minute later, Stephanie Hillman crossed the finish line in 23:44 and freshman Carly Bates set a personal best for a 6K, finishing with a time of 24:30.

Kara Butler was the next Falcon to cross the finish line with a time of 25:01, and finishing sixth at 25:08, was Kylie Kornsnack. Bridget Dalic finished in 25:19 for the Falcons and Andrea Pereira de Almeida was the final BG runner to cross the finish line, setting a 6K personal best with a time of 25:42.

Taking the title of the race and shocking everybody was nationally unranked University of California Santa Barbara, which had three runners in the top six, including the champion and runner-up.

“The Roy Griak course was rolling hills the whole way and that is something we don’t see much of throughout the year, and it gets the team ready to tackle the All-Ohio course which is a very hilly and challenging course,” Wells said.

BG will have the next two weeks to prepare for the All-Ohio Championships in Delaware, Ohio on Oct. 6, a meet in which the Falcons finished fourth last season.

“The All-Ohio is run on an extremely difficult course and there are a lot of competitive runners in it,” said Roflow, who finished fourth in the All-Ohio Championships last season. “Like any race, I’m going to give my best effort and try to place as high as I can.”