Bowling Green State University Athletics
Cross Country Teams Open Season With Dual Against Toledo
August 29, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
Aug. 29, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams will begin their 2007 campaign Friday evening when they host the University of Toledo in dual competition. The Falcons and Rockets will begin the 5k-event at 5 p.m. that will start at the Whittaker Track and finish just south of the big hill at Forrest Creason.
The race will mark the first event of the season for all four squads as BG was picked third in the preseason Mid-American Conference women's poll, while UT was picked fourth. On the men's side the Falcons were picked seventh with the Rockets coming in at ninth.
"The athletes are all excited to race and racing against Toledo is always fun because of the natural rivalry with the two schools," BG head coach Cami Wells said.
The Falcons of coach Wells return five letterwinners on the women's side in 2007 and six on the men's side.
Wells, now in her ninth year as BGSU's women's coach and sixth season as the head coach of both Falcon cross country programs, expects to see her teams compete hard and try to earn their first victories of the season.
"I expect both teams to run to win," Wells said. "The women will be running without Jamie Roflow, who will not compete this Friday, so we are counting on the other members of the team to step up and take more of a leadership role and get us started on a positive note."
"The women's team has looked very strong so far in practice and they work together well," Wells continued. "Our big focus will be on closing up gaps between runners and keeping our spread time from our No.1 runner to our No. 5 runner under 30 seconds."
Last season in the same event, the BG women earned a 19 to 37 win, while the Rockets were able to pull out a 25 to 30 win in the men's race. Roflow took home the race victory for the women for the third year in a row at the dual race coming in a time of 18:05, however this season she will not be able to take part in the event leaving the women's squad looking for others to step up.
Two top returnees for the Falcon women capable of doing that will be sophomore Carly Bates (Palentine, Ill.) and junior Kara Butler (Okemos, Mich.). Both finished well in last year's MAC meet, as Bates placed 28th, while Butler placed 31st.
Other veterans that will be looked to will be senior Caroline Hillman (Westerville, Ohio), junior Stephanie Hillman (Westerville, Ohio) and senior Lyndi Springer (Celina, Ohio). Junior hometown-runner Kylie Korsnack (Bowling Green, Ohio), along with sophomores Lindsay Conway (Rochester, N.Y.), Andrea Pereira de Almeida (Bowling Green, Ohio), Danielle Thornton (Luckey, Ohio), Chelsey Woods (Springfield, Ohio) and Lauren Zielke (Mount Pleasant, Ill.) will also give the Falcons some good depth.
On the men's side, sophomore Eddie Kipchoge (Eldoret, Kenya) returns to defend his race title. In last year's race Kipchoge and senior teammate Brad Wells (Portage, Ohio), finished first and second with times of 15:29 and 15:59, but the Falcons were unable to place another runner in the top five, as UT earned the win placing runners in spots 3-7.
"The men's squad is working well together and looks to be much stronger than last year's team," Wells said of the group. "We will once again be led by Eddie Kipchoge who is in very good shape and ready to go and we will be counting on our seniors Brad Wells, Kevin Kaighin (Oregon, Ohio) and Curtis Farnsel (Metamora, Ohio) to help lead the squad, as well as freshman Max Group (Beavercreek, Ohio)."
Besides Group, there will be 12 other new faces this fall competing for the orange and brown. This includes on the men's side; Jeff Ehler (Cincinnati, Ohio), Michael Flores (Fremont, Ohio), Johnstone Kirui (Eldoret, Kenya), Eric Lutton (Delta, Ohio), Christopher Moody (Davidsonville, Md.) and Jesse Smuda (Deshler, Ohio). On the women's side Heather Conger (Euclid, Ohio), Ashley Fischer (Fremont, Ohio), Megan Kelsey (Kettering, Ohio), Courtney Krummert (Milford, Ohio), Barbara Powers (Bowling Green, Ohio), Andrea Scharer (Oregon, Ohio) and Tara Weiss (Gaithersburg, Md.) round out the new freshmen.
"We have many new faces on both teams and I am very pleased with the way the majority have prepared themselves and adapted to the training," Wells said.
Other additions to the Falcon squads include redshirt freshmen Autumn Dettmann (Watertown, Wis.) for the women and John Bernard for the men (Worthington, Ohio).
Following Friday's race, the Falcons will return to action at home again on Sept. 15 when they host the Mel Brodt Invitational.
