Bowling Green State University Athletics
Cross Country Heads to NCAA Regionals
November 10, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 10, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The men's and women's cross country teams may not have gotten the team results they were looking for almost two weeks ago at the 2005 MAC Championships, but have held their heads high and are looking for a positive outcome at this Saturday's NCAA Regional Championships set to take place in Bloomington, Indiana on the campus of Indiana University.
The women's team is looking to improve upon their 14th place finish at last years regional meet. BGSU's 14th-place finish as a team in 2004 was the best since the 2000 squad placed 13th at the regional race. The men, who did not compete as a team in 2004, look to compete well against the competition after MACs.
The Falcons, like they have been all season, will once again be lead by their two running aces in Rogers Kipchumba, a junior from El Doret, Kenya, and Jamie Roflow, a sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Although she was not the top finisher for the Falcons at last year's NCAA Regional Championships, Roflow is the top returnee. She placed 77th last year with a personal best time of 21:52.3 in the 6,000m race. She is currently ranked fourth all-time in the 6,000m race.
Other Falcons competing for the women include Andrea Pollack who finished 113th with a time of 22:40.5; Kim Settle (131st; 22:53.0) and Stephanie Hillman (132nd; 22:57.3).
Newcomers for the women will include Caroline Kipchaba, Kara Butler and Colleen Moran.
For the men, all three runners who competed in the 2004 race will also compete in the 2005 along with four more team members to help push them along. Rogers Kipchumba, Bryan Jackson and Steve Vairetta will return for the Falcons along with newcomers Edgar Ramirez, Kris Lachowski, Brett Finnan and Aaron Smuda.
At last years meet, Rogers Kipchumba was 64th among 197 finishers, with a time of 31:56.4 in the 10K race. Bryan Jackson finished 157th in a time of 34:21.2, while Steve Vairetta (35:21.3) was 187th overall.
The teams have spent the past two weeks training hard for this meet after their disheartening team finisheds two weekends ago.
The women's team, in order to prepare both mentally and physically have sacraficed one thing that may have been hampering their running. Some of the sacrafices include bubble gum, negative thoughts and procrastination. Coach Wells even got in on it and gave up Diet Coke until after NCAA Regionals.
The men have spent the past two weeks training hard but trying to stay healthy and fit as well. With the longer race (10K instead of the usual 8K), the team's stamina and strength will take into place.
The men's race will begin at 11:00 a.m. and the women's race will begin shortly after at 12:15 p.m.
