Junior Becca Rae and freshman Kohl Taberner came through in a big way as BG finished in the top half for both the men and women’s teams.
In the Louisville Cross Country Classic, the Falcons came in 15th place out of 33 teams and were the highest Mid-American Conference team in the 5,000 meter. Rae, for the third time this season, placed first on the team with a time of 18:09.29.
Redshirt sophomore Mackenzie McMillin and redshirt junior Andrea Alt came in right behind Rae, finishing 18:10.29 and 18:12.09, respectively.
While these athletes came up big, others made big cross country debuts.
In her first race of the season, redshirt junior Jasmine Redman clocked in with a time of 18:27.80, finishing fourth. Redshirt freshman Allison Francis also set a new personal best time of 18:26.86, while Junior Amanda Garlak and freshman Elena Lancioni finished in the top seven for the Falcons.
They all managed to stay close to each other, as there was under 30 seconds between the first and seventh BG runners.
In the men’s team, Taberner finished in 100th place out of the 569 runners. He finished with a time of 26:30.02, first on the team with this being his first 8,000 racing event as a Falcon.
The success for the team continued as redshirt freshman Travis Jex finished second place in the event, setting a new personal best in the process. His time of 27:09.07 broke his previous one by 30 seconds.
Senior Greg Black and redshirt freshman Nathan Tuck came in back-to-back places in the race, coming in third and fourth, respectively. Tuck also continued the trend of setting and breaking previous personal records as he came in with a time of 27:17.51.
Lastly, freshman Nick Voth and junior Jeremy Richard filled in the last two spots for the first seven places for BG, getting sixth and seventh. Richard also set a new personal record in the 8,000 event, clocking a time of 27:48.67.
There were also records broken on the women’s side as well.
Redshirt sophomore Lindsay Kaatz set a personal best time of 24:18.38 while competing in the 6,000-meter championship race. This record beats her previous one by more than a minute, which was set at the All-Ohio Championship meet a season ago.
The next meet will be two weeks from now at the Indiana State Pre-Nationals on October 11. The Falcons will compete at the Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana.
