By Daniel Gedney

sports reporter

The Bowling Green State University track team braved the cold and the wind and came away with three individual first place finishes in the Western Michigan Invitational Saturday afternoon in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Alicia Taylor took first place in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash, posting times of 14.39 seconds and 25.09 seconds in the respective events.

“Alicia always comes to a competition ready to do the job and get it done,” head coach Scott Sehmann said.

“I was actually kind of surprised because a lot of runners do not perform well in the cold,” Taylor said. ” I was surprised at myself, I just tried to think ‘don’t think about the cold, don’t think about the other runners, just get out there and go,’ and I did.”

Kerri McClung built on her big start to the outdoor season with her second consecutive firstplace finish in the shot put. McClung posted a mark of 44 feet 2.75 inches.

The Falcons went up against fellow Mid-American Conference schools Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Also participating in the meet were Detroit, Notre Dame, Oakland and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Team scores were not kept.

“I thought we competed fairly well, although we’re not quite ready to put up some big, big marks yet,” Sehmann said. “We’re still transitioning from the indoor to the outdoor season.”

The leaders for the Falcons in the sprint events were: Melanie Oberrecht, who finished 11th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.20; seconds, Taylor in the 200 meter dash (first, 25.08); and Amber Walker in the 400 meter dash (third, 1:00.79).

In the distance runs, the Falcons were paced by: Ellen Alkire in the 800-meter (sixth, 2:26.16); Melissa Krueger in the 1500-meter (fifth, 4:54.65) and Amber Culp in the 5000 meter (fifth, 18:13.30). In the hurdles, BG was led by Taylor in the 100-meter (first, 14.39) and Heather Gustin (sixth, 1:12.05) in the 400-meter.

In the 4 X 100 meter relay, the Falcons A team finished second with a time of 48.38 while their B team finished fifth with a time of 52.55.

In the long jump, Erin Leeper placed 10th for the Falcons with a mark of 4.68 meters.

In addition to McClung’s first place finish in the Shot Put, Chassity Gulley placed third for BG with a mark of 41′ 7.75″ inches.

Mary Willems, McClung and Gulley placed fourth through sixth respectively for the Falcons in the discus throw with marks of 117′ 09″, 116′ 06″ and 115′ 07″.

McClung and Willems also led the Falcons in the hammer throw, placing sixth and seventh with marks of 139′ 09″ and 130′ 04″. Brooke Allen led BG in the javelin throw, placing fourth with a mark of 111′ 01″.

Next up for the Falcons is a trip to Athens, Ohio where they will compete in the McDonalds Invitational on Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m.