The BG women’s track team held its own against some of the best in Ohio, finishing fourth overall behind three-time defending MAC Indoor Champions Akron, Cincinnati and Ohio State. The Falcons finished just five points behind the Buckeyes and were none too pleased about it.
“We’re not happy with a five-point loss to Ohio State,” said BG coach Cami Wells. “We had a lot of positives happen, but it was sort of bittersweet.”
Among the positives mentioned by Wells were four individual champions, including a regional qualifying time, as well as several personal bests.
Jamie Roflow and Kim Settle continued their dominance over the field in the 3,000 meter steeple chase, going first and second for the second week in a row.
“Both ran very strong races,” Wells said. “I’m very happy to see them go one-two again.”
Roflow took the gold with a regional qualifying time of 10:49.79 and Settle took silver with a time of 10:51.04, only .79 seconds off the regional qualifying mark.
“It was a little heartbreaking to miss the mark again, but I have no doubt [Settle] will get it by the MAC meet,” Wells said.
Kara Butler battled the heat and sun to come away with a personal best in the 10,000 meter run. Butler had not run the race since last season when she had a bout with mono, making her run this weekend over three minutes faster.
“It really was too hot for a 5K or 10K. The conditions were not conducive to run really well,” Wells said. “We knew she’d have a big PR this meet, but it’s still nice to see her come out and get at it.”
In only her second 100 meter dash of the season, Jessica White proved why she is the best by winning the event for the second year in a row, beating Corine Gavin-Hall of Akron, who held the fastest time in the MAC so far.
“This was a great confidence boost to beat the girl from Akron with the best time,” Wells said. “This race should put her in good position to be one of the favorites at MAC for the 100.”
In the field, it seemed as though everything fell into place, supplying two champions and too many personal bests to count.
Andi Bunko threw the farthest she’s thrown in over two years in the javelin, making her the new All-Ohio Champion in the event. However, her throw of 141’2″ was still a couple of feet off of a regional qualifying mark.
Also in the javelin, Kylie Korsnack recorded an eight foot personal best of 122’4″ to take sixth place for the Falcons.
Sabrina Forstein moved up in the record books for the pole vault with a jump of 10’11.75″. Last week she was third best, now she’s taken over second place all-time at BG.
TaKarra Dunning once again raised the bar in the shot put, being one of only two MAC athletes to throw over 50 feet so far this season, the other being Sarah Vance of Buffalo, who broke the 50 foot barrier the same day at a different meet.
The throw of 50’2.75″ was good enough for first and Dunning’s second All-Ohio shot put victory in two years.
In the discus, Liz Honneger took third with a throw of 144’4″ and Lauren Bryant took fifth with a throw of 143’2″.
“Overall I thought our throwers did a really nice job,” Wells said. They really stepped up.”
The Falcons look forward to traveling to Hillsdale College this weekend to compete against more than thirty teams, mostly from the Midwest area.
“We just want to send ourselves to the conference with a good position,” Wells said. “We need to make sure everyone gets ready for the most important meet of the season with the MAC.”
