Falcons Leap Into Season Friday At Eastern Michigan

Friday, December 5

Ypsilanti, Mich.

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Eagle Holiday Meet

December 03, 2014 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Ypsilanti, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University indoor track and field team will open the regular season Friday at Eastern Michigan's Holiday Meet. Competition is set to begin at 4 pm.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
The BGSU track and field team can be followed all winter/spring long through a number of ways. Social media links are listed below and live results and live video (as available) can be found on BGSUFalcons.com as meets provide those opportunities.

Twitter - @BGAthletics and @BGXCTrack
Instagram – BGFalcons and bg_xctrackandfield
Facebook – BGSU Athletics
YouTube – FalconAthletics

ABOUT THE EMU HOLIDAY MEET
Eastern Michigan's Holiday Meet begins at 4 pm Friday at Bob Parks Track. The Falcons are scheduled to compete 33 times over 10 events at the meet. The tentative schedule of events is listed below:

4 pm – Weight throw (Kayla Velasquez, Aliyah Gustafson)
4:30 pm – Long jump (Alicia Arnold, Kyla Paster, Sydnee Matthew)
4:30 pm – High jump (Lexie Davis, Raven Porter, Krystin Reiser)
5 pm – Shot put (Makenzie Wheat, Aliyah Gustafson, Krystin Reiser)
5:30 pm – Triple jump (Tiera Parker, Sydnee Matthew, Raven Porter)
6:25 pm – 60 hurdles (Sydnee Matthew, Krystin Reiser)
6:45 pm – 60 (Alicia Arnold, Tiera Parker, Dorresha Green, Kera Lamotte, Brianna Johnson, Kyla Paster)
6:55 pm – 400 (Brittany Sinclair, Demetra Taylor, Natalie Sommerville, Connor Kempf)
7:15 pm – 200 (Dorresha Green, Kera Lamotte, Brianna Johnson, Gabrielle Edwards, Cortisha Short)
7:45 pm – 1600 relay

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"I just want to continue to get better. (Through my freshman year), I learned the process and what I need to do to be successful at meets. I've learned what works best for me. My mindset for this weekend is to have a good day and to see how we do compared to the intrasquad meet." – Sophomore Makenzie Wheat, after placing sixth in the shot put in the MAC as a freshman

"In a lot of ways, we use the indoor season to build into the outdoor season. On Friday, we want to build on the success of the intrasquad meet. We had a lot of good things happen there in a lot of areas. With two more weeks under our belt, can we get a little bit better before break?" – Head Coach Lou Snelling

INTRASQUAD RECAP
Bowling Green held its annual Orange vs. Brown Intrasquad Meet on Nov. 21 and the team posted some impressive performances. While final marks don't count towards personal bests, the Falcons showed their potential to excel this year. Both Raven Porter and Krystin Reiser opened the meet with a dramatic showdown in the high jump, posting distances that would position them for a strong showing at the MAC Championships. Aliyah Gustafson threw 49-feet-4 to win the shot put and Kyla Paster jumped 39-10 in the triple jump, a distance that only one other Falcon has ever exceeded. In all, five newcomers won events at the preseason meet.

YOUTH STILL RULES
While the BGSU Track and Field program has matured over the past few years, the team is still extremely young. The team will compete 31 times in nine individual events and 11 of those will come from freshmen. Only seniors Krystin Reiser, Brittany Sinclair and Natalie Sommerville will compete Friday (entered a combined five times). Sophomores are entered eight times and juniors seven times. In total, there are only four seniors on the 2014-15 roster to go with nine juniors, 13 sophomores and 13 freshmen.

RETURNING POINT SCORERS
Although the team does have youth, the Falcons also return more experience than in previous seasons. In fact, six current student-athletes have scored at the MAC Indoor Championships at least once in their careers. Alicia Arnold, Taylor Rambo, Brittany Sinclair and Demetra Taylor have all raced to a top eight finish at the MAC Indoor Championships in the 1600 relay and Sinclair has added a top eight result in the 400. Makenzie Wheat finished sixth in the shot put a year ago as a freshman and Brooke Pleger has finished fourth and fifth in the weight throw in the past two years.

CLIMBING TOWARDS THE TOP
Under head coach Lou Snelling, the Bowling Green indoor track and field program took a big step forward a year ago in the Mid-American Conference and the Falcons will look to replicate that improvement this year. The Falcons placed 11^th out of 12 teams in each of Snelling's first two seasons, scoring a combined 26 points at the MAC Championships during those two seasons. Last year, BGSU scored 38 points and tied for eighth place.