Bowling Green State University Athletics
Cross Country Banquet a Success
December 05, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
Dec. 5, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - With over 127 athletes, family, friends, administrators, coaches, and alumni in attendance, the Bowling Green cross country teams held their annual Alumni and Awards Banquet this past Saturday night in the Bowen Thompson Student Union.
Pictures boards cluttered the hallway outside the banquet room as memories of past Bowling Green cross country athletes and teams were displayed.
There were several boards, one including picture memories of the current squad and the 1980 women's squad, and the 1995 men's and women's squad, whose tag line was "To Sink the MAC you must pay the PRICE." This of course paid homage to their coaches, Sid Sink for the men, and Steve Price, for the women, both of whom were in attendance at the banquet.
This night celebrated the accomplishments of the past and the present as members of the 1980 women's cross country MAC Championship team and the 1995 men's and women's MAC Championship teams were in attendance and honored. The audience applauded as the teams and their coaches were announced by current head coach Cami Wells.
The night was a big hit with many awards handed out to the current squad. The awards portion of the program started off with the handed out of the "Heart of a Falcon" award. Coach Wells gave this award to Edgar Ramirez.
Team Captain awards were given on the men's side to Steve Vairetta and Bryan Jackosn and on the women's side, to Emily Jackson and Kim Settle. All were given the awards for thei outstanding dedication as leaders for the 2005 squads.
The most improved runner (MIR) awards were given to Stephanie Hillman on the women's side and Jeremy Hartley and Kevin Kaighin on the men's side. Hillman was given the award because her collegiate personal best in the 5k improved from a 19:00 to 17:50. She also ran a PR in the 6K. Hartley and Kaghin too were given the MIR award for their amazing improvment over the course of a year as they each improved their 8K times by well over two minutes.
The most valuable freshman awards were given to Kara Butler on the women's side and Brett Finnan on the men's side. Butler was a top seven runner for the Falcons in six out of seven meets this season and was the number three runner for the last three meets of the season. Finnan was the only surviving freshman on the squad, as several freshman quit within a few days of practices, but despite being the only freshman on the team, he made quite a name for himself, stepping into the top five for the Falcons several times during the season.
Most valuable runner awards were handed out to Jamie Roflow and Rogers Kipchumba. Roflow led her team in all seven meets this fall and ran a personal best time of 17:31 this season. She also was named MAC Runner of the Week twice and MAC Scholar Athlete once this season. Kipchumba has led his team in ever single race since September 2004, which adds up to 15 races. He ran his best time in the 8K at the Stanford Invitational in September since coming to the United States a few years ago.
The teams, although sad to see the season end and say good bye to the seniors, look forward to the potential of future seasons.
The night could not have been made possible without the support of cross country alumni and the Bowling Green Cross Country Alumni Society, who sponsored the Banquet. For more information on the BGCCAS, please feel free to contact the president, Laura Murphy at laura@runmichigan.com or the vice president, Jodie Smith at jodie.smith@sev.org.
