While Los Angeles was hosting the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, the BG women’s track team was busy putting on an all-star performance of their own. The Falcons scored 107.5 points, including three first place finishes, to win the All-Ohio Championships which were held Saturday in Findlay. BG edged out Miami (105.5), Akron (104), and Cincinnati (101.5) to claim top honors in the meet.
Head coach Scott Sehmann gave all of the credit to his hard-working athletes for the win, but recognizes that there is still room for improvement.
“The kids were excited about [the win]. They put forth the effort and made it happen. We’ll take that [effort] and move forward into the next big task, the MAC Championships,” Sehmann said.
The Falcon sprinters had no problem putting forth a winning effort, finishing with two of the three Falcon first place finishes. They were led Saturday by Alicia Taylor and Valerie Holland. Taylor won the 60 meter hurdles followed by teammate Nicole Standback in fourth place. Holland took first in the 60 meter dash while Taylor finished fourth followed by Jessica White in sixth place.
In the 200 meters, Amber Walker placed second, followed by Holland and White in third and fourth place. Marquita McGowan finished fifth in the 400 meter dash ahead of Walker, who finished eighth. BG’s 4 x 400 meter relay team finished in fifth place.
Distance runner Melissa Krueger was the only runner to complete the mile run with a time under five minutes. She won the race in 4:59.69. Distance teammate Amber Culp took fourth in the 5000 meters ahead of Bridget Dalic and Leslie Carden in sixth and seventh place. BG’s Andrea Polack finished eighth in the 3000 meters. In the 800 meter run, Kim Settle took eighth.
In field events, several BG athletes placed in the top eight to score points toward the team’s win. In the triple jump, Veronica Vance finished fourth, followed by Standback in sixth. Erica Wilson took sixth in the high jump ahead of teammate Tamika Dixon in eighth place. Wilson also finished fifth in the long jump, while Vance took seventh in the same event. In the pole vault, Jenny Peck finished eighth.
Throughout the indoor season, the team has strived toward achieving consistency in their performance. As a team, the Falcons are consistently performing well in meets, but coach Sehmann sees room for individual improvement before the MAC Championships.
“Overall, numerous key folks, top performers throughout the year, have really stepped forward. Their marks throughout the season have continued to get better. We should continue to improve as far as our marks are concerned come conference weekend,” Sehmann said.
The MAC Indoor Championship meet takes place Feb. 27-28, leaving the Falcons two weeks to fine tune before heading to Ypsilanti to face top competition from within the conference. While Sehmann applauded his team’s effort this past Saturday, he plans to focus on improving certain areas in the next two weeks.
“It certainly took everyone’s effort to make [this meet] come together. There were a couple areas, key people, I thought could have had better meets. It was a good tune up for the MAC Championship, but we’ll have to raise it to another level to be competitive with the rest of the conference,” Sehmann said.
The Falcons are currently back to work practicing for the MAC Championships. They have won two of their last three meets, placing second in another. If anything, their confidence will remain their strong suit as they prepare to take on competition from around the conference.
