Bowling Green State University Athletics
Women Place in the Top Ten at the 32nd Annual Stanford Invitational
September 25, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 24, 2005
Palo Alto, California - The Falcon runners traveled to Palo Alto, California this weekend to compete in the 32nd Annual Stanford Cross Country Invitational. This race features the nationally ranked Stanford Cardinal men and women's teams. The women, running the 6,000m race this weekend instead of the traditional 5,000m, placed 9th among 32 other schools in the race. The men, running the traditional 8,000m, placed 24th among 36 schools in the field.
To no surprise, the top woman for the Falcons was running standout, sophomore Jamie Roflow. She ran a 21:58 and finished 10th out of 227 women, some of the best collegiate women in the country.
"Very good race for Jamie," said head coach Cami Wells. "Placing in the top at this meet is a tremendous accomplishment and I am very proud of her."
Next across the line was 28th place Stephanie Hillman. The sophomore ran 22:33, a personal-best. Junior Andrea Pollack placed 62nd in the race with a time of 23:30. Her fellow juniors Kim Settle and Bridget Dalic were the next across the line, finishing 82nd (23:39) and 103 (24:01) respectively. Freshman duo Kara Butler and Colleen Moran were the last Falcons to cross the line for the team. Butler ran a time of 24:30, a collegiate personal-best, where she placed 136. Moran finished 171 with a time of 25:02, also a collegiate personal-best.
"We placed 9th out of 33 teams and that's great for a meet like this," said Wells "We were hoping to finish a few spots higher, but overall, I'm extremely pleased with the ladies."
Coach Wells now looks to improving the gap between Roflow and the rest of the pack.
"Our goal is to continue to close the gap between Jamie and the rest of the top five runners for the women," said Wells.
For the men, there was a slight bump in the road, but saw a bright side with junior Rogers Kipchumba leading the way with a time of 24:57, his best 8K time since coming to the University last fall. He was 41st out of over 230 runners in the race.
Next for the Falcons was Bryan Jackson who finished 133 with a personal best time-of 26:39. Following Jackson was freshman Brett Finnan, 143rd place, crossing the line at 26:55, a personal-best. Aaron Smuda was next across the line, 154th, with a time of 27:09. Jeremy Hartley crossed 170th, running 27:46. Kevin Kaighin was next, placing 178th, running 27:57. Last to cross the line for the Falcons was Edgar Ramirez, 185th, running 28:14.
"I was pleased with Kip's performance," said Wells. "It's his fastest 8K time in well over a year."
The Falcons were not at full strength with Edgar Ramirez getting sick at the last minute, and Kevin Kaighin had a few trips along the race.
"Edgar was obviously not where we would have liked him to be. He recently got sick and it hurt his race," said Wells. "We hope to have him at full strength by All-Ohio's. Kevin was tripped several times during the race and it obviously hurt his performance. I look forward to All-Ohio's and seeing the men race again and improve upon this week's performance."
The Falcons will enjoy a day of sightseeing around San Francisco and Pier 39, along with a tour of the famous Alcatraz, before returning early Monday morning and resuming workouts for the All- Ohio Championships.
The Falcons will return to competition on Friday, October 7th, 2005 at the All-Ohio Cross Country Championships held in Delaware, Ohio. This race will feature Ohio's best collegiate runners. The races are slated to begin at 2:00 pm.
For complete results please visit www.gostanford.com or www.ezmeets.com
