The Bowling Green track and field team beat conference rival Toledo for the third year in a row on Friday. The Falcons won 11 of the 18 events on their way to scoring 103 points on the Rockets’ home track.
Senior Brooke Pleger opened her outdoor season in this meet, the first since competing in NCAA Outdoor National Championships last year. Pleger continued where she left off, dominating the country in the hammer throw.
Her best throw of 222 feet 4.5 inches was enough to win the event and move her to the No. 1 spot in the country so far this year. Pleger threw a total of six times in the meet, and her fourth-best throw would have been enough to make her first in the country.
“She’s just going to get better from there,” head coach Lou Snelling said. “It’s going to be fun to see where she takes it from here. Being her senior year, it’s going to be exciting.”
In addition to Pleger, the hammer continued to be one of the strong points of the Falcon program. Redshirt sophomores Kori Reiser and Kayla Velasquez came in second and third in the meet and walked away with Mid-American Conference automatic qualifying marks.
Reiser tossed a 183-4.75 and Velasquez tossed a new personal best 178-6.75. With that mark Velasquez moves into the top 10 in Falcon history along with Pleger and Reiser.
In sprints, Brittany Sinclair was the only Falcon with two individual wins on the day. Sinclair is ranked first in the MAC in the 400 and 400 hurdles, but opted out of those events and instead competed in the 100 and 200.
Sinclair came out on top in both events, marking a 12.51 seconds in the 100 and a 25.21 in the 200. Freshman Dorresha Green was second in the 100 and junior Kera Lamotte was second in the 200.
Going into the final event and leading by five points, the team did not need much to win the meet in the 1600 relay. With Toledo leading in the race going into the final stretch, redshirt sophomore Taylor Rambo passed the Rockets sprinter to win the event and close the meet.
“I’m proud of the girls,” Snelling said. “Despite the conditions and despite the weather, we competed through the end. Whatever the adversity might be, we have to deal with it. We were gutsy today. We got it done.”
The Falcons will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Knoxville for the Tennessee Relays.
