The BG women’s cross country team traveled down to Louisville, Ky. for the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday where they did BG proud by finishing seventh out of 28 teams.
A pack time of 1:13 helped the Falcons on their way to the seventh place finish, but the Falcons still are not happy. The pack time between the first and fourth runners was only 35 seconds, making the gap between the fourth and fifth runners the team’s Achilles’ heel.
“I was very happy with the top four runners,” said coach Cami Wells. “That was the best we have had a top-four finish in some time. The gap between the four and five runners is just something we will have to continue to work on.”
The team got a strong placing in a top 25 finish from freshman Ashley Fischer in a personal best time of 18:03.93. Fischer has been a strong performer for the Falcons this season after winning her debut and placing ninth at the Mel Brodt Invitational two weeks ago.
“Ashley has been doing a great job,” Wells said. “She did well against a strong field and did a great job from start to finish. I was happy to see her have another [personal record].”
Carly Bates was the second Falcon across the line, placing 38th with a time of 18:27.17. She was followed closely by Kara Butler at 41st in a time of 18:35.12 and freshman Barbara Powers at 47th and a time of 18:38.00.
The Falcons had more strong performances from their freshmen on Saturday with one at the first, fourth and fifth scoring spots, something the team is counting on to help them when it comes time for the Mid-American Conference meet.
“They are some very hard working young ladies,” Wells said. “They will continue to gain confidence as they run well and we will keep building on that.”
The Falcons look to use last Saturday’s success as a launching pad to the upcoming All-Ohio meet where they will face most of the MAC teams including rival Toledo and projected MAC champs, Ohio University.
“We have a lot of incentive to go out against the best teams in Ohio and do well,” Wells said. “This year there is a much stronger field and we plan to go out and prove ourselves among them. That’s our goal.”
The Falcons placed third at All-Ohio last year, but that was with Jamie Roflow finishing first and Roflow has been red shirted for the remainder of the season. They compete on Friday in Delaware, OH with the meet kicking off at 2 p.m.
