Bowling Green State University Athletics
Roflow Wins MAC Championship 5,000-meter GOLD!
February 23, 2007 | Women's Track and Field
Feb. 23, 2007
AKRON - The big news for day one of the 2007 MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships was junior distance standout Jamie Roflow. She is Bowling Green's first MAC Champion of this conference meet. She beat rival Carime Reinhart of Ohio by more than two seconds to win with a time of 17:03.45. The two led the race for its entirety before Roflow broke away from Reinhart in the last 300-meters. Roflow becomes the first BG runner to win the 5,000-meters since 1999 when Laura Deneau won the event. She becomes the second person in Falcons history to win the indoor 5,000-meters.
"It was a great race," said head coach Cami Wells. "Jamie planned to take it out hard and she did. It was a two person race the rest of the way. She really fought hard and was able to pull away at the end. Jamie is an outstanding competitor and I am very happy to see her win her first MAC Championship."
Roflow's win wasn't the only action in day one of the championships. Several Falcons competed in preliminary heats of their individual events in an attempt to qualify for the finals set to take place tomorrow.
Nicole Standback qualified for the final in the 60-meter hurdles. She came in second in her heat behind Ball State's Amber Williams. Standback crossed the finish in a time of 8.68 putting her in fifth place going into tomorrow's final.
Jessica White won her heat of the 60-meter dash to qualify for the finals on day two. She will go into tomorrow's final for fourth place. She also qualified for the finals in the 200-meters, running a huge lifetime-best today. She crossed in a time of 24.47 seconds, .18 seconds faster than her previous personal best. She will go into tomorrow's final in fourth place.
"Jess looked very strong in her preliminary races," said Wells. "She ran a personal best in the 200 today. Both races should be great races tomorrow. The competition is outstanding and Jess is confident at this point."
"Nicole looked strong in both her prelims in the hurdles and 60-dash," said Wells. "She's looking for a big break through in the hurdles tomorrow."
Yemoja Marotta ran big for the Falcons. According to entry marks in the 800-meters, Marotta was not in the top-eight, but that changed as the prelims of the 800-meters concluded. She ran the event in a time of 2:15.44, more than three seconds faster than her entry mark and personal best. She goes into the final tomorrow in eighth place.
"Yemoya followed the race plan exactly as coach Roberts had laid it out for her," said Wells. "She fought hard the whole way and had a PR of more than three seconds. I am extremely proud of her. She had some girls come up on her towards the end and fought them off to qualify. She has a good chance at placing well in the finals."
Day two will kick off for the Falcons at 1:00 p.m. with the triple jump and shot put.
