Falcons Post Best MAC Championship Result In 15 Years

Saturday, May 17

Athens, Ohio

All Day

Bowling Green State University

MAC Outdoor Championships

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

May 17, 2014 | Women's Track and Field

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

Final Results (.pdf)
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Athens, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University track and field team closed out the final day of the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in strong fashion, taking advantage of almost every opportunity to place seventh in the final team standings. The team's 60 points were the most for the program since 1999.

Bowling Green has taken huge strides in just two years to become a factor in the MAC. In 2012, the team scored just one point at the MAC Championships. The Falcons improved to 23 points a year ago, but made almost tripled that point total this year and climbed three spots in the overall team standings. The team's 37-point increase this year was the largest of any team in the MAC Championships.

Kent State won the team championship with 132 points, followed by Akron with 127. Eastern Michigan had 100.5 and Buffalo added 87.5. Western Michigan landed in fifth with 70 points and Central Michigan pass BGSU in the final event to land the last spot in the top half of the team standings with 63 points. Following Bowling Green, Miami had 57 points and Northern Illinois had 42. Ohio was 10^th with 41 points, followed by Toledo with 37 and Ball State with one.

The Falcons scored points in seven events on the final day of competition, led by senior Jeanette Pettigrew, who scored in four events on the day. She placed second in the 100 with a time of 11.87 and then tied for the second-fastest time in BGSU history in the 200 with a time of 23.88 seconds to end third. Pettigrew was also a part of two relay teams that finished on the podium, running the second leg of the 400 relay team that finished fifth and the anchor leg on the 1600 relay team that placed eighth.

Both relay teams posted season-best times and got into the top 10 lists in BGSU history. The 400 relay team of Brianna Johnson, Pettigrew, Tiera Parker and Alicia Arnold recorded the second-fastest time in program history at 46.26. The 1600 relay team of Arnold, Natalie Sommerville, Brittany Sinclair and Pettigrew are the ninth-fastest team in school history in 3:47.14.

Sommerville added a stunning result in the 400 hurdles. After barely sliding into the finals with a new personal best time Friday, she obliterated her career-best by more than a second Saturday and ran 61.08 seconds to place fifth overall.

The Falcons again surprised in the triple jump as Tiera Parker outperformed her seed to finish sixth with a personal-best jump of 38-feet-5, moving into fourth in Bowling Green history in the event. Although freshman Raven Porter finished just off the podium in ninth place, she also set a personal best in the event and qualified for finals with a jump of 37-2.25. Porter is also now in the top 10 at BGSU in eighth place.

In the discus, redshirt freshman Kori Reiser closed out a strong campaign. She finished sixth with a throw of 160-0 to add to her sixth-place finish in the hammer throw Thursday. Although they did not score points, Tina Perrine placed 10^th in the discus and Andrea Alt was 10^th in the 5000.

MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Kent State 132, Akron 127, Eastern Michigan 100.5, Buffalo 87.5,
Western Michigan 70, Central Michigan 63, Bowling Green 60, Miami 57,
Northern Illinois 42, Ohio 41, Toledo 37, Ball State 1