With the season drawing to a close, the Bowling Green cross country runners have many positive accomplishments, both individual and as a team, to take out of this year’s campaign.

Head Coach Cami Wells and her flock of Falcons, however, are not content to just settle for the strides made to this point. They look to continue the climb up the ladder of success and make their presence felt when it matters the most, the Mid-American Conference Championships.

On the women’s side, it has been a record breaking season for many of the runners. So far 11 of the 18 runners on the squad have broken their personal records this season.

Amber Culp has emerged as the team’s number one runner this year, as she currently has a four race streak of being the team’s front-runner going.

Freshman Nicola Viljoen, despite having to overcome a back injury, is off to a very promising start in her collegiate running career.

Senior Sarah Lohrbach has stepped it up in recent weeks as she looks to put an exclamation point on the end of her collegiate running career.

Melissa Krueger and Elise Gould have overcome injury and illness and are both running extremely well at this crucial point in the season.

Head Coach Cami Wells is very pleased with another stride that the women have made this year, which is in the area of team unity.

“The women have grown quite close as a group and work together well,” Wells said. “They have really started to analyze the competition and see where they need to be each meet to accomplish the team as well as the individual goals.”

The major team goal that the women have set for themselves this season is to finish in the top five at the MAC Championship.

“It will not be an easy task as the field is quite strong this year in the MAC, but I believe we have the ability to be top five if everyone runs up to her potential,” Wells said.

Women’s front-runner Amber Culp is also very optimistic about the team’s progress this season and their chances at MAC.

“Everyone has been running very well, anything can happen and I believe we have an excellent chance of walking away with a MAC Championship,” Culp said.

On the men’s side, many challenges have had to be overcome this season. They have had to deal with the departure of Head Coach Sterling Martin and many of the team’s key runner’s from the previous season. Like the women, the men have really come together as a team this season.

“They have really been an enjoyable group to work with and they are becoming more of a team every week,” Wells said.

They have been aided tremendously by the addition of graduate student Mario Rothmund, who has been the team’s leader not only on the course, but in training as well.

“His leadership in the races and training experience is something he has shared with the younger team members,” Wells said.

The already small squad has had to deal with a number of injuries this season. Steve Blasko, Phil King, and Ed Stonestreet have all had to miss time this season because of injuries, but are giving their all to get back to one-hundred percent for the MAC Championships.

All these factors have put pressure on the other runners to really step it up this season, and many have.

Freshmen Josh Stucky has worked hard to make a good first impression this year, and team captain Troy Stiles has grown in his leadership abilities as well as his confidence, as he has accumulated more racing experience this season.

The challenge that lies before both squads now is to take all these positives and turn them into a successful campaign at the upcoming MAC Championships.