The Bowling Green Falcons’ track and field team had a strong showing at the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championship.
BG finished in eighth place, three spots up from this past year’s event, with a total of 38 points. This was more than triple this past year’s score, when the team finished with a 12.
The Falcons started the two-day event off with a bang with Brooke Pleger and Tina Perrine dominating the weight throw event. Pleger came in fourth with a score of 66.5.25, while Perrine scored a 59.5.75 to come in fifth.
This event alone brought the Falcons nine of their 15 points for the day.
Senior Jeanette Pettigrew continued the momentum for the team in the 200 event, placing in third with a score of 24.34 seconds, which tied her own school record. She did better in the 60 by posting a season-best of 7.54 seconds, putting her in fourth place for the event and advancing her to the finals.
Pettigrew also gained five more points for the team by scoring 19-4 in the long jump, which put her in fourth place.
One of the more surprising performances on Friday was redshirt freshman Jasmine Redman, beating her personal best with a time of 17:07.42. That time got her in eighth place on the medal stand and was the best 5000 time for BG since Jamie Roflow in 2008.
Lastly, junior Krystin Reiser ended her indoor season on a high note by setting two personal best times and scoring a career high of 3,472 points in the pentathlon. Though she did finish in 10th place, her score was just more than 100 points away from setting a new record.
The second day continued the Falcons’ success with Pettigrew continuing hers in the events. She started it off by making history in becoming the first BG women’s runner to win a MAC championship in the 60. She won it with a time of 7.53 seconds, and she still wasn’t done.
She completed her final indoor season by eclipsing the school record in the 200 with a time of 24.18 seconds. With those dominating efforts, Pettigrew managed to finish up second overall in the 200.
Head coach Lou Snelling was really impressed with Jeannette’s effort, saying that she deserves her success because of her hard work.
“It was pretty special event for Jeannette,” Snelling said. “She really stepped up and she’s done a fantastic job and she worked hard for it.”
The Falcons stayed focused and kept the competitions close throughout. Freshman Raven Porter set a personal best in the triple jump 35-10.5 to come in 14th. Sophomore Maria Meredith set a personal best in the mile with a time of 5:04.52.
In the final event of the night, the 1600, there was a close race between BG, Northern Illinois and Miami. However, the team of Pettigrew, Alicia Arnold, Demetra Taylor and Brittany Sinclair ran a season-best score of 3:47.13.
This allowed the Falcons to come out on top over NIU in the final team standings with a total score of 38 points.
The Falcons came in eighth overall in the event and now look to get ready for the outdoor track season.
Snelling said the results were good in that the team has a lot of momentum going into the outdoor season and they are better at running outdoor track.
“We have a lot of momentum heading into the outdoor season because we’re better outdoors,” he then added. “This month is a really crucial month for us, we have to take advantage of what’s going on for us now.”
The Falcons’ outdoor track season starts on March 28th at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina.
