Falcons Win 10 Events En Route To Tom Wright Classic Title

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Bowling Green, Ohio – Alicia Arnold won the long jump, the 60 and ran leadoff on the winning 1600 relay team as the Bowling Green State University track and field team dominated the field on the way to the Tom Wright Classic Championship. The Falcons won 10 of the 15 events that were competed for Friday evening.

Bowling Green's 162 points were 51 better than Miami in second place at 101. Ohio was third with 88 points and Dayton placed fourth with 85. Toledo rounded out the field with 40 points. The win came on BGSU's Senior Night as the Falcons honored four seniors competing at home for the final time in their careers – Brooke Pleger, Krystin Reiser, Brittany Sinclair and Natalie Sommerville.

"This gives us a lot of positive momentum heading into February," BGSU Track & Field coach Lou Snelling said. "We are going to hit some events we haven't yet coming up. How good of a position can we put ourselves in heading into the MAC Championships? It will be interesting to see."

Arnold posted the top long jump performance in the Mid-American Conference this year, leaping 19-feet to win the event. She added the third best time in the league in the 60, running 7.63 seconds in the prelims to hit the MAC automatic qualifying mark and record a new personal best. Arnold concluded the meet by running a strong leadoff in the 1600 relay as the Falcons won the event with a time of 3:55.26.

"It was awesome to see the two auto marks and a PR in the 60 for Alicia," Snelling said. "It was great to see her make those steps. She's in a good position and if she can keep building on this, I think she can do some exciting things."

There were numerous other strong performances by the Falcons as well. Pleger, a two-time All-American, opened her indoor season by winning the weight throw with a MAC automatic qualifying mark of 66-feet. That distance is 10^th best in the country this year and was just 1.5 inches shy of the Perry Field House record.

"It was a great opener for Brooke," Snelling said. "She's in a good position. She's going to keep getting better and keep building. It's not a matter of 'if' she's going to break her school record in the weight throw but 'when'."

Most of the Falcons' distance runners opened their seasons as well. Becca Rae ran a personal best time in the 3000 of 10:14.94 to win the event by eight seconds. Amanda Garlak was fourth, also running a PR time of 10:23.39.

In the mile, Maria Meredith set a new season best time, completing the race with a strong 5:08.80 and a first-place finish.

"That group is just getting into things coming off cross country season," Snelling said. "We aren't super sharp right now, but it was a PR for Becca and several other PR's in the 3,000 as well. It was a good start for them."

The Falcons took the top three spots in the 200 with freshman Cortisha Short set a new personal best time of 25.55 seconds. Taylor Rambo was second in 25.73 and Kera Lamotte's time of 25.95 was a new personal record and was good for a third place finish.

Demetra Taylor was strong in the 60 hurdles as well. After posting a time of 9.10 seconds in the prelims to qualify for finals with the third-best time, she rolled to the win with a season-best time of 8.94 seconds.

Tiera Parker edged out teammate Kyla Paster for the triple jump title, jumping 37-feet-9 to Paster's 37-2. Sinclair tied her own school record in the 300 with a mark of 40.70 seconds to win that event.

Bowling Green will split up its squad over the coming week, sending some to the Findlay Open Friday. Others will head to the SPIRE Midwest Indoor Track & Field Open Friday and Saturday.

TOM WRIGHT CLASSIC
BGSU 162, MIAMI 101, OHIO 88, DAYTON 85, TOLEDO 40

High jump – 4. Krystin Reiser 5-3, t5. Raven Porter 5-1
Long jump – 1. Alicia Arnold 19-0, 3. Kyla Paster 18-1.5, 4. Sydnee Matthew 17-9.25, 5. Raven Porter 17-3.5
Triple jump – 1. Tiera Parker 37-9, 2. Kyla Paster 37-2, 4. Raven Porter 36-1.75
Weight throw – 1. Brooke Pleger 66-0, 6. Kayla Velasquez 54-5, 7. Kori Reiser 52-6.5
60 prelims – 1. Alicia Arnold 7.63, 2. Tiera Parker 7.88, 7. Kyla Paster 7.96, 8. Cortisha Short 7.98, 9. Taylor Rambo 8.01, 12. Gabrielle Edwards 8.03, 13. Kera Lamotte 8.04, 17. Sydnee Matthew 8.16
60 finals – 1. Alicia Arnold 7.66, 4. Cortisha Short 7.91, 5. Tiera Parker 7.91, 6. Kyla Paster 7.94
60 hurdles prelims – 3. Demetra Taylor 9.10, 5. Sydnee Matthew 9.30, 9. Krystin Reiser 9.65
60 hurdles finals – 1. Demetra Taylor 8.94, 4. Sydnee Matthew 9.38
200 – 1. Cortisha Short 25.55, 2. Taylor Rambo 25.73, 3. Kera Lamotte 25.95, 6. Gabrielle Edwards 26.16
300 – 1. Brittany Sinclair 40.70, 2. Connor Kempf 43.49, 3. Natalie Sommerville 43.82
600 – 2. Natalie Sommerville 1:40.66, 4. Connor Kempf 1:42.44, 6. Krystin Reiser 1:45.67
800 – 10. Lindsay Kaatz 2:33.62
Mile – 1. Maria Meredith 5:08.80, 10. Lindsay Kaatz 5:31.48
3000 – 1. Becca Rae 10:14.94, 4. Amanda Garlak 10:23.39, 5. Andrea Alt 10:25.11, 8. Allison Francis 10:38.50, 12. Rebecca Schott 10:43.94, 17. Jody Musser 11:06.65
1600 relay – 1. BGSU A (Alicia Arnold, Demetra Taylor, Brittany Sinclair, Taylor Rambo) 3:55.26, 2. BGSU B (Dorresha Green, Cortisha Short, Kyla Paster, Krystin Reiser) 4:08.38

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Alt

Alicia Arnold

Gabrielle Edwards

Allison Francis

Amanda Garlak

Dorresha Green

Lindsay Kaatz

Connor Kempf

Kera Lamotte

Sydnee Matthew

Maria Meredith

Jody Musser

Tiera Parker

Kyla Paster

Brooke Pleger

Raven Porter

Becca Rae

Taylor Rambo

Kori Reiser

Krystin Reiser

Rebecca Schott

Cortisha Short

Brittany Sinclair

Natalie Sommerville

Demetra Taylor

Kayla Velasquez

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