Bowling Green State University Athletics
Culp Posts Second-Place Finish at CCC
September 27, 2002 | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 27, 2002
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Amber Culp's second-place individual finish led the way as the Bowling Green State University women's cross country team placed fifth of 11 teams at the Central Collegiate Championships Friday (Sept. 27). On the men's side, the Falcons were ninth of 11 teams, led by Mario Rothmund's fifth-place result. The races were held at Buhr Park in Ann Arbor, Mich.
For the Falcon women, Culp finished in a time of 18:50, just three seconds behind Western Michigan's Abby Barnett. BGSU had a team score of 127 to place behind WMU (31), Eastern Michigan (88), Wright State (90) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (112).
Elise Gould was the second Falcon finisher, placing 24th in a time of 20:02. Other BGSU finishers included Niki Suitor (35th, 20:18), Cyndi Bostdorff (36th, 20:25), Sarah Lohrbach (37th, 20:26), Kristin Spicer (41st, 20:33), Melissa Krueger (42nd, 20:34) and Leslie Carden (54th, 20:55). A total of 88 runners finished the 5K race.
"On the women's side, we were hoping to finish a little higher," said BGSU head coach Cami Wells. "Briana Killian is still recovering from bronchitis, and we decided to hold her out until next week at Notre Dame. Nicola Viljoen is still trying to get over a back injury and started the race, but was unable to finish. We are hoping to have them both back healthy next week.
"Briana and Nicola are two of our top runners, so we knew that the rest of the team would have to make up the slack with them being out. Amber Culp ran a great race from start to finish; I have never seen Amber run better. She looked strong the entire time and improved by almost a minute from her time on the same course last month. Amber has really stepped her racing up to another level this year. I couldn't be more pleased with her progress.
"Elise Gould ran a much better race and ended up our number two runner. Elise is getting back to where she was last year and can really help us out up front. Niki Suitor, Cyndi Bostdorff, Sarah Lohrbach, and Kristin Spicer rounded out our top six. We are still trying to get our three through six runners to move up during the race. We have to be stronger there to reach our team goals."
For the BGSU men, Rothmund was fifth of 79 total finishers, with a time of 25:27 in the 8K race. Patrick Maynard was the next BG finisher, placing 37th (26:58). Other Falcons in the race included Kris Lachowski (51st, 27:50), Troy Stiles (54th, 27:52), Josh Stucky (66th, 28:46), Phil King (69th, 28:59) and Steve Blasko (78th, 31:13).
"On the men's side the team ran better this week than last race," said Wells. "Mario Rothmund ran a solid race. Patrick Maynard ran a much better race and broke the 27 minutes for the first time this year, finishing in 26:58.
"Also, Kris Lachowski dropped 28 seconds from his previous season best and ran 27:50. Troy Stiles and Josh Stucky rounded out our top five. We still have a lot of things to work on during the race, but there is improvement and we are going to keep working until we get it right."
The Falcons will be in action next Friday (Oct. 4) at the Notre Dame Invitational.
