Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Finish Eighth--Standback Wins Silver!
February 24, 2007 | Women's Track and Field
Feb. 24, 2007
AKRON - The Falcons finished eighth at this year's Indoor MAC Championships and had many athletes appearing on the podium. This was their highest at the indoor championships since 2004 when they also finished eighth. They also moved up two spots from last year's tenth place finish. They finished the day with 37 points. The winner of the meet was Akron with 136 points followed by Western Michigan (112), Ball State (82.50), Central Michigan (62), Miami (55.50), Buffalo (51) and Ohio (44). Those teams finishing behind the Falcons were Kent State, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Eastern Michigan.
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Nicole Standback was the top finisher for the Falcons on day two of the 2007 Indoor MAC Track and Field Championships. Through the years, Standback has appeared on the podium all three times indoors and this day was no different. In 2004 she claimed the bronze medal and in 2005 she was seventh. In 2006 at home, she claimed third place and today, she was second with a scorching time of 8.45 seconds, her best time in the event, ever.
"I though Nicole ran an outstanding race. She's been consistent all season and she's been waiting to have that breakthrough and its great to see it come at the MAC Championships. She had a good start but finished very strong. She was gaining on the winner and so it's a sign for good things to come in the 100-meter hurdles."
Last night, junior Jamie Roflow won the gold in the 5,000-meter run becoming the second Falcon in history to win the event indoors. She improved from a third place finish at the 2006 championships. On Saturday, Roflow gave her best effort in the 3,000-meters and finished fifth in the event with a time of 9:56.41, her fastest time in the event this season.
"Jamie gives it everything she has every time she races," said Wells. "She's very talented. She's the hardest working athlete I've ever coached and it's nice to see her get to the top of the podium. We're looking forward to outdoor, the 5,000-meters and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She qualified for both those events in the Region last year and she's on track to do so again."
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"I'm really happy for Jess. She's already one of the top runners in the conference. Her times keep continue to drop. She'll have a chance at some school records outdoors, so I'm looking forward to that. The 100-meters outdoors is going to be a very good race for her this season."
Coming into the MAC Championships, Yemoja Marotta was not seeded in the top-eight of the 800-meters but that soon changed. After qualifying for the event on day one of the competition with a personal-best 2:15.44, she ran close to that and finished seventh overall with a time of 2:15.92.
Like Marotta, Kim Settle came into the mile today not slated to be in the top-eight but fought it out to the very end of the race. She finished eighth with a time of 5:03.30, a huge personal-best for the senior.
"Yemoja and Kim really stepped up for us," said Wells. "That's the type of thing we're looking to do to become a better team. I felt that both of them were capable of placing. They fought hard and I am really proud of them. We'll continue to make some improvements and work on outdoors for the two of them."
Sophomore Takarra Dunning saw the MAC podium for the first time in her early career as a Falcon. She finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 46-07.25.
Although she didn't finish in the top-eight in the pole vault, freshman Sabrina Forstein had a big day for the Falcons. She jumped a career-best in the event with a jump of 11-01.75.
Andrea Pereira de Almeida also ran a career-best in the mile by more than eleven seconds with a time of 5:15.41.
The group of Hillary Hewit, Danielle Thornton, Ashley Spates, and Marotta ran their fastest 4x400-meter relay this season with a time of 3:56.81, only a second off of placing in the event.
"We have a small squad coming in," said Wells. "We lack depth and it showed today but everyone that competed this weekend worked hard for us. We will have some more depth outdoors with athletes joining us for outdoor season and athletes that will be coming back from injury. We are definitely a better outdoor team than we are indoors but we ended the season on a positive note and we'll give these ladies some rest and work on outdoors."
The Falcons will return to action at the end of March traveling to Stanford, California and Toledo to compete in the first meet of the outdoor season.
Notes:
* Former legendry MAC athletes/coaches were recognized for their many accomplishments in the sport of track and field. BGSU had three honorees including former coach and athlete Sid Sink and Tom Wright as well as former coach Steve Price. Sink is a ten time All-American and had the 3,000-meter named after him. Although not in attendance, BGSU gold medal Olympian Dave Whottle was recognized and had the 800-meters named after him, the event he won gold in at the 1972 Olympics.
 Tom Wright, Steve Price, Sid Sink |
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* As stated above, the Falcons finished their highest at the indoor championships since 2004 when they also placed eighth.
* The Falcons had a scorer in each running event they were entered in, a feat that has not been accomplished by the team since the inception of the indoor championship in 1996.
