Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Finish 18th At NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet
November 15, 2003 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 15, 2003
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University women's cross country team posted an 18th-place finish at the 2003 NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet Saturday afternoon (Nov. 15). The 30-team race, hosted by Indiana State University, was held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
Individually, senior Amber Culp led the Falcons for the 15th consecutive race, placing 34th overall and setting a school record for a 6,000-meter race. Culp finished the 214-runner race in a time of 21:50.6. The old school mark was 22:05, set by Joy Echler in 2001.
"Amber had a good race today," said Falcon head coach Cami Wells. "The field was tough, but she got out there and gave it everything she had. She finished off her career setting a school record and placing 15 places better than last year's regional meet.
"Amber has had a great cross country career here at BG and we will miss her leadership."
Notre Dame, ranked fourth in the nation captured the team championship by placing five runners in the top 15 Saturday. Molly Huddle took home the individual title for the Irish with a time of 20:14.7 Notre Dame's team total of 43 points enabled the Irish to finish ahead of seventh-ranked Michigan ( 58 points).
The Wolverines were followed by #12 Michigan State (96), #33 Indiana (150) and #19 Marquette (159). 36th-ranked Wisconsin was sixth with 203 points, while #32 Toledo (206), #29 Ball State (298), Butler (313) and Purdue (328) rounded out the top ten.
The Falcons had a team total of 473 points, bettering the team's 2002 regional score by 93. For the Brown and Orange, freshman Andrea Pollack was the second runner to cross the line. Pollack finished the race in a time of 23:02.9 to place 96th overall.
Sophomore Leslie Carden (105th; 23:10.2) was BGSU's third finisher, while junior Melissa Krueger (111th; 23:17.6), freshman Bridget Dalic (127th; 23:29.8), senior Leighann Kramer (133rd; 23:34.8) and junior Niki Suitor (136th; 23:37.7) rounded out the Falcon participants in Saturday's race.
All seven of the Falcons' runners set personal bests for a 6K race.
"In addition to Amber, the rest of the team had a good overall effort," said Wells. "Our second through seventh runners all finished within 35 seconds of one another.
"It has been a good year. We have made alot of progress toward our goals for the future, and now, the team will take a well-deserved week break before they start their indoor track training."
Notre Dame and Michigan earn the region's automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, set for Nov. 24. The top-four individuals (not on a qualifying team) also earn a trip to the national-championship meet. If no other teams qualify (third-place Michigan State, as mentioned, was ranked 12th in the national poll), those four individuals would be MSU's Michelle Carson (second overall) and Jamie Krzyminski (fifth), Miami's Andrea Kremer (sixth) and Wisconsin's Megan Guiney (10th).
