Bowling Green’s men’s and women’s track teams traveled south to the University of Kentucky’s Nutter Field House last weekend for the Rod McCravey Memorial Meet. They competed against high profile teams from Eastern Kentucky, Alabama A’M, Alabama, Miami (Ohio), DePaul, Virginia Tech, Appalachian State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and East Tennessee.
At the non-scoring meet, nine members of the women’s team finished in the top eight in their events. The women’s 4×400 meter relay team ran a time of 3:53.40 to beat their nearest competitor, Eastern Kentucky, by two seconds.
Sophomore thrower Kerri McClung continued to dominate the shot put event, winning for the third straight week with a throw of 15.02 meters. Her effort this week earned her a provisional qualifying spot for the NCAA indoor tournament. “It’s been a good start to the season,” said McClung, “a lot of hard work is paying off right now and I’m glad to be injury-free and ready to compete.”
McClung won the shot put at the BGSU Invitational and at the Central Collegiate Championship Meet. For the third straight week, the BG women continued to earn most of their points in the field events. In addition to McClung’s first place finish, senior Lori Williams placed sixth in the 20-pound weight throw with a distance of 16.40 meters and eighth in the shot put with a throw of 12.73 meters. Senior Janean Johnson placed eighth in the weight throw with a distance of 15.70 meters. Bowling Green’s duo of freshman high jumpers placed fifth and eighth in the event. Rachel Perme and Tamika Dixon jumped 1.63 meters and 1.58 meters, respectively.
Sophomore Alicia Taylor crossed the finish line for the 60-meter hurdles in seventh place with a time of 8.80 seconds. While junior Briana Killian ran to an eighth pace finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.91.
Men Six members of the men’s team placed in the top eight in their events at the meet. The highest finisher for the Falcons was junior Zerian Peterson with a second place finish in the 400-meter dash and a time of 48.20 seconds.
In the men’s 35-pound weight throw, Bowling Green took third and fourth place. Sophomore Jamal Salahuddin was third with a throw of 15.36 meters and senior Pat Kania finished fourth with a throw of 15.08 meters.
Juniors Drew Downey and Kerry Koontz placed third and sixth in the pole-vault. Downey vaulted 4.88 meters, while Koontz vaulted 4.57 meters. In the high jump, sophomore Dean Coticchia placed fourth with a jump of 1.93 meters.
The next meet for both the men’s and women’s teams will be the All-Ohio Championships at the Perry Field House this Saturday.
