Bowling Green State University Athletics
Amber Culp Earns All-MAC First-Team Honors
November 01, 2003 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 1, 2003
GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green State University senior Amber Culp earned all-league honors, pacing the Falcons at Saturday's Mid-American Conference Cross Country Championship. The league meet, hosted by the University of Akron, was held at the Mayfair Country Club in Green, Ohio, Saturday (Nov. 1).
Culp placed fifth among individuals, helping the BGSU women finish eighth in the 13-team women's race. The Falcon men finished 12th as a team.
The Falcon women's team posted the highest finish since the 1998 squad won the MAC title.
Ball State's women and Central Michigan's men captured the team titles at the meet. Miami's Andrea Kremer was the women's individual winner, while Eastern Michigan's Gavin Thompson broke his own meet record en route to winning the men's race.
Kremer recorded a time of 17:16.2 to win the 5,000-meter women's meet by 16 seconds over Ball State's Jill Scully. The Falcons' Culp was fifth with a time of 17:42.8.
In the men's race, Thompson finished the 8K course in 23:39.9, topping his previous MAC meet record of 23:50.2.
Following Culp, a pair of freshmen were next to finish for the Falcon women. Bridget Dalic placed 33rd in the 104-women event, with a time of 18:40.8, while Andrea Pollack finished 40th (18:49.3). Other BGSU finishers included sophomore Leslie Carden (44th; 18:54.4), junior Melissa Krueger (50th; 18:58.7), senior Leighann Kramer (62nd; 19:12.3), freshman Kim Settle (63rd; 19:13.1) and sophomores Caroline Kipchaba (65th; 19:14.5) and Emily Jackson (86th; 19:51.1).
Culp led the BGSU women for the 14th consecutive race, dating to early in the 2002 season. She became the first Falcon to earn first-team all-league honors since Hanane Sabri and Wendy Licht-Ordway did so in 1998. Culp's fifth-place finish was the best by a Falcon at the league meet since that '98 campaign, when Sabri was second and Licht-Ordway third among individuals.
"Amber ran a great race," said Wells. "She looked strong and focused the entire race. She wanted to be All-MAC First-Team runner, and she went out and made it happen. She has been an excellent leader all year long.
"I was also pleased with Bridget Dalic's race. She was the third freshman overall in the field and ran a strong race from start to finish. Andrea Pollack got herself a little too far back the first mile, but ran hard in the last mile to make up some ground and finish in the number-three spot on the team.
"Leslie Carden ran a collegiate personal best and improved to finish 44th, up from 103rd last year at the MAC meet. Melissa Krueger struggled a bit, but hung in there for a solid race. I was also pleased with our sixth through eighth runners. Leighann, Kim and Caroline all helped push the pace and press the top-five. Kim Settle also had a personal best finishing in 19:13.
"We had hoped to finish better as a team, but we improved 100 points from last year and moved up one position. This team has worked very hard, and we are really moving in the right direction for the future. I am looking forward to seeing them race a 6K at regionals. The longer distance suits this team well."
The Falcon men saw freshmen claim the first through fourth spots in the race. Edgar Ramirez led the team for the fourth time this season. Ramirez placed 72nd overall with a time of 26:52.0. He was closely followed by classmate Edwin Cheruiyot, who was 74th with a 26:57.2 clocking.
Other Falcon runners included freshmen Jeff Wright (87th; 28:26.8) and Vivien Briard (88th; 28:29.5), juniors Kris Lachowski (89th; 28:32.0), Steve Vairetta (90th; 28:34.0) and Patrick Maynard (91st; 28:44.1) and senior Jake Smith (94th; 30:12.8).
"The men had a poor showing overall," said Wells. "They have had a long year and the fatigue is starting to set in. But, there was no excuse for the effort today, and I am not going to make any excuses. We have to build for the future and the freshman and sophomores are our future.
"Edgar Ramirez is the leader of this team, and he has put in a very solid effort this fall. I look for great things from him in the future as well as Edwin Cheriyout, who needs some time to recover from nagging injuries but has a lot of untapped potential.
"Jeff and Steve ran their best times of the season, and I was happy to see them get out and compete today. They are both fatigued from the adjustment to 8K races, but they have the heart needed to improve for the future."
In the women's race, Scully led BSU to its first team championship. The Cardinals (73 points) topped Toledo (78), and host Akron came in a close third with 82. Western Michigan was fourth (120), followed by Miami (124), Central Michigan (130). Kent State (160), BGSU (172), Buffalo (248), Eastern Michigan (264), Northern Illinois (277), Marshall (323) and Ohio (330).
CMU's men captured the title for the second consecutive year, behind a third-place finish by Triston Perlberg. The Chippewas (46) narrowly edged in-state rival EMU (48), taking the conference title by a margin of two points. Third-place honors went to Miami (67), while Kent State took fourth (98). Western Michigan (146), Toledo (177), Ball State (197), Ohio (230), Akron (246), Buffalo (264), Marshall (336) and the Falcons (350) completed the men's standings.
Culp was joined on the women's All-MAC First Team by Kremer, Scully, UA's Adriana Zalucka, KSU's Kelly Green and UT's Kelly McCarty. On the men's side, Thompson, Miami's David Mitchell, Perlberg, UT's Abraham Habte, EMU's Steve Crane and Miami's Brian Godsey took first-team all-league honors.
Women's second-team honorees were UT's Chris Tye, UA's Morgan Sulzener, UB's Jenny Koeppel, BSU's Crystal Meeks, CMU's Cami Moll and Miami's Kristin Wrede. For the men, second-team all-league accolades went to EMU's Joel David, KSU's Matt Cornwell, the CMU trio of Jake Flynn, Luke Humphrey and Don Wilkins and EMU's Wes Alkin.
Ball State's Sue Parks won women's MAC Coach-of-the-Year honors, while Central Michigan's Craig Fuller earned the honor on the men's side.
The Falcon women will compete at the Nov. 15 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
