Entering his 12th season at the helm of BGSU’s cross country programs, coach Lou Snelling shows no shortage of confidence in the Falcons’ ability to achieve great things this season.
Despite finishing last season in significantly different manners, both the men and women’s teams look to be as competitive as they can be in the conference championships this year. The bar is set high for the women’s team.
“I think there’s pretty high expectations for the team in a scenario that’s uber-competitive,” Snelling said.
The women return several runners from the team that placed third at last year’s Mid-American Conference Championship meet, including standouts in senior Kailee Perry, and sophomore Kylee Cubbison, who had first- and second-place finishes, respectively, at the Tommy Evans Invitational. These performances led the way for the team to finish first out of 16 teams in the season opener. Building upon their experience from last year, they stand primed to compete for the MAC Championship.
The men’s team hopes to duplicate that success.
“For the men, it’s about improvement, [if] we can move up a few places at the MAC Championships,” Snelling said.
The team looks to build upon their eighth-place finish in 2022. The men notably bring several new runners into the mix several, including junior transfer Anthony Sweet and first-year runners Ben Myers, Micah Bentley and Luke Woolard, all of whom Snelling said will be “interesting to watch.”
The men opened their season finishing 12th out of 18 teams at the season-opening Akron Invite, with senior Heriberto Alvarez leading the way in 34th place out of 271 runners.
The Falcons have the fortune of hosting three separate home meets during the upcoming season – this weekend’s Mel Brodt Collegiate Open, Falcon Invitational, and the MAC Championships. Snelling acknowledged the benefits to several home appearances:
“There is a lot of pride,” he said. “We love our home course … so competing [and] showcasing our sport in front of the greater BGSU audience is very important to us.”
The Falcons will be back in action this Friday at the Mel Brodt Open, where they’ll look to make a statement against a competitive slate of opponents.
