This Friday the Falcons will host rival University Toledo in their first and only home game of the season.
Seniors Jeanette Pettigrew, Dana Gates, Tina Perrine, Brea Tinney and Natasha Greggs will all be honored this Friday for Senior Night.
The honoring event will take place at 4:45 p.m., kicking off the track events.
This will be an important meet for the Falcons, especially for Perrine and Pettigrew, who rank within the top 48 in the region.
On top of that, this meet will allow the Falcons the chance to defeat Toledo for the second year in a row.
Head coach Lou Snelling said that it would be good to beat their rivals two years in a row.
In last year’s meet, the Falcons defeated the Rockets in a close 93-90 victory between the two. The last time the two teams faced off before last year was back in 2000.
Snelling sees this as the last chance for the team to hit more automatic qualifying marks and better their spot for the Mid-American Conference outdoor championship meet.
“This is our last opportunity to move up the MAC list and get done what we need to get done before the MAC championship,” Snelling said.
In the latest rankings, provided by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the Falcons are in the top 20, coming in at No. 13, the highest rank the team’s received in the program’s history. This also puts BG at fourth within the MAC schools.
As the season gets closer to the championship round, Snelling believes the team is getting closer to finding their balance between the rookies and veterans.
“Over the past couple years, we’ve been getting closer and this is the closest we’ve ever been,” Snelling said. “Although we lose Jeanette this year, which hurts and Tina … we’ll return with the bulk of our team next year.”
Those two seniors are both ranked in their respective events. Perrine’s ranked seventh in the University’s history of the hammer throw and is number 39 in the region, while Pettigrew is ranked within the top five in three events: the 100 meter, 200 meter and the long jump.
The BG and Toledo duel starts at 4 p.m. this Friday, at Whittaker Track.
