Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women Finish Ninth, Men 18th At Auburn Invite
October 19, 2002 | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 19, 2002
AUBURN, Ala. - The Bowling Green State University cross country teams, in a final tuneup before the Mid-American Conference Championships, competed at the Auburn Invitational on Saturday morning (Oct. 19). Numerous members of the squad posted personal-best times as the Falcon women placed ninth of 30 teams, while the BGSU men were 18th in that 30-team race, held at Indian Pines Golf Course.
Individually, the Falcon teams of head coach Cami Wells were paced by junior Amber Culp and senior Mario Rothmund for the fourth consecutive race.
Culp, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., finished 20th in the 235-women race, in a time of 17:38.36. The BGSU women had a team score of 248, placing just five points behind eighth-place Georgia.
Virginia Tech won the women's race, followed by host Auburn, Georgia Tech and Kentucky. The Falcons finished ahead of such schools as Wyoming, Southern Mississippi and Ole Miss.
On the men's side, Rothmund placed 15th of 253 total finishers. The Stuttgart, Germany, native finished in a time of 24:37.13. The Falcon men had a team score of 518, as all five BG competitors counted in the team scoring.
SMU had the top-two individual finishers in the men's race and captured the team title, followed by Clemson, Georgia and Auburn. BGSU finished ahead of a pair of Southeastern Conference schools in Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.
The second BGSU finisher in the women's race was Nicola Viljoen. The freshman from South Africa finished 49th overall, in a time of 18:17.08. Other BG competitors included sophomore Melissa Krueger (61st, 18:29.30), senior Sarah Lohrbach (67th; 18:37.25), sophomores Nicole Suitor (73rd; 18:44.05) and Elise Gould (78th; 18:49.37), senior Cyndi Bostdorff (95th; 19:05.49), freshman Leslie Carden (106th; 19:22.13) and senior Briana Killian (116th; 19:28.05).
Sophomore Kris Lachowski was the second member of the Falcon men's team to cross the finish line. Lachowski, a native of Toledo, finished 108th n a time of 26:17.87. Other BGSU runners included senior Troy Stiles (132nd; 26:32.85), junior Steve Blasko (172nd; 27:21.09) and freshman Josh Stucky (191st; 27:43.98).
"The Auburn meet went well for us this weekend," said Wells. "The temperature was perfect and the course was very fast.
"The men had one of their best showings this year despite the absence of our number-two runner, Patrick Maynard. Mario Rothmund ran a fine race, finishing 15th with a personal record (24:37.13). Mario set a goal to get under 25 minutes this weekend, and he went out and made it happen..
"Kris Lachowski's time was also a personal best as were the times for both Troy Stiles and Josh Stucky. The men will be facing some tough competition at the MAC meet, but they have been making improvements each week and are practicing very well.
"On the women's side, I was pleased that we finished in the top 10, but I know that we can still make improvements in certain areas and perform better as a team. The ladies are really starting to work together and compete harder every week. I feel very good about where we are at heading in to the MAC meet.
"We had many personal records run this weekend, starting with Amber Culp. Amber's time is almost a full minute faster than her old personal best of 18:35, run her freshman year. Amber's time is also the fastest cross country time at BGSU since I took over the program in 1999.
"Amber really gave everything she had out there, and raced extremely well. She just gets more confident and aggressive very week. She is doing a great job of leading the team.
"Nicola Viljoen, Melissa Krueger, Sarah Lohrbach, Niki Suitor, Elise Gould and Leslie Carden also had collegiate personal best times at Auburn. Briana is still hindered by breathing problems which really flared up during the race.
"We have two weeks now to gear up for the MAC meet."
The MAC Championships, which will be hosted by Miami University on Nov. 2, in Oxford, Ohio.
