Kohl Taberner, Andrea Alt and the rest of the Falcons compete in their biggest meet of the season this Saturday.
The two teams will compete in the Mid-American Championship meet beginning on Friday.
The women’s cross country team will take the stage first in the 6,000 championship race at 11 a.m. The men will go next when they compete at noon in the
8,000 race.
“We’re looking forward to do our best for this meet,” said assistant head coach Eric Thatcher. “At this point, it’s time to get it done.”
Taberner, who also came in first place for the men’s for the last two weeks, is looking forward to improving on his stats as well as beating the University of Toledo.
“I want to try to finish in less than 26 minutes,” Taberner said. “As a team, I want to see us go after Toledo and then bring our team average down.”
The men’s team hopes to improve from their last performance, where they finished 27 out of 28 teams in the
Pre-Nationals’ meet.
As for the women, they hope to continue their positive run as they came in seventh place out of the 33 teams from the Pre-Nationals.
“The big things we have going for us is our experience and fitness,” said head coach Lou Snelling. “This is the healthiest team I’ve had since I’ve been here and it should all play well as we head into our championship segment.”
With athletes such as junior Becca Rae, Alt and redshirt sophomore Mackenzie McMillin, coach Snelling has a lot to be
confident about.
“We think we have a shot to be top four in the MAC this year as a team,” Snelling said. “We have accomplished a lot of our training and racing goals up to this point.”
Coach Thatcher, while containing much younger players still gaining experience, believes they will come into their own more at this meet.
“These young men deserve a result that matches their current fitness, and I am confident they will respond with toughness to the challenge that our conference championship meet provides,”
3he said.
The success of the Falcons from their last meet also put them in the regional rankings. According to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, BG moved up to number 13, two spots from their last meet and their highest regionalranking in its current format.
The MAC Championship will be hosted by Central Michigan University at the Riverwood Golf Course.
