The Falcon women placed seventh in Delaware, Ohio, and the men finished 22nd on what many call the toughest course the Falcons will run on this year.
For the third time in as many weeks, Mario Rothmund and Amber Culp were the front-runners for the Bowling Green State University runners this past Friday at the All-Ohio Championships in Delaware. Rothmund placed 22nd out of 263 finishers in the men’s 8K race with a time of 26:41.8, while Culp took 18th place out of 267 finishers in the women’s 5K race with a time of 19:05.1. Rothmund, despite not being at 100 percent due to illness, once again set the standard for the rest of the team, running almost a full two minutes faster than the second Falcon finisher. The illness had a definite effect on his efforts this weekend, but is not expected to be a continuing problem and he should be back to 100 percent for next weekend’s race.
The runner up on the men’s side was Patrick Maynard, who returned this week after missing the previous race due to a musical performance. Maynard placed 105th with a time of 28:31.6. The rest of the men’s finishers included: Kris Lachowski (132nd, 29:03.4), Troy Stiles (158th, 29:39.7), Steve Blasko (162nd, 29:46.9), and Josh Stucky (168th, 29:52.8). A total of 39 schools competed in the race, which was won by Ohio State. The Falcons placed 22nd.
Amber Culp continues to be the front-runner on the women’s side, running almost a full minute faster than the next fastest Falcon. She was followed by Nicole Suitor (51st, 19:58.7), Nicola Viljoen (53rd, 19:59.5), Briana Killian (63rd, 20:05.8), Melissa Krueger (68th, 20:08.9), Sarah Lohrbach (75th, 20:17.2), and Elise Gould (89th, 20:25.5). Toledo took first place in the women’s race, which like the men’s race had 39 schools competing in it. Bowling Green placed seventh.
The All-Ohio course presented a real challenge to the Falcon runners. The reason for this is that the course is full of something that Bowling Green does not have very many of, hills.
“There is no point in the race where you are on flat ground,” men’s runner Troy Stiles said.
The lack of experience and training for uphill running had a definite effect on the runner’s performances.
“All of the times were slow due to the toughness of the course, it is definitely the toughest course we race on,” Stiles said.
The wear and tear that the physical demands of the sport causes on the body has started to have an effect on some of the Harriers. Phil King has been bothered over the last couple of weeks by stress fractures he suffered in a previous season.
Ed Stonestreet has been hampered by a hip injury, and Troy Stiles has been dealing with tendonitis in his knee for most of the season. On the women’s side, Briana Killian has had to deal with Bronchitis and Nicola Viljoen has had to battle through a back injury.
The next race for the Falcons is the Auburn Invitational. This race will take place in Auburn, Alabama on Sat., Oct. 19. This will be the final preparatory race for the Mid-American Conference Championships, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Oxford, Ohio.
