Final Regular Season Weekend Looms For Falcons

Friday, February 13

Allendale, Mich.

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

The Big Meet

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 12, 2015 | Women's Track and Field

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

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University indoor track and field team closes out the regular season schedule this weekend. The majority of the team will compete at the SPIRE Division I Indoor Track & Field Invitational Friday and Saturday in Geneva, Ohio. A limited group of throwers will head to the Grand Valley State Big Meet Friday. BGSU has earned nine Mid-American Conference automatic qualifying entrants so far this year and will look to improve upon that in the final tune-up before the MAC Championships.

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 THIS WEEKEND'S MEETS
The SPIRE Division I Indoor Track & Field Invitational will take place Friday and Saturday at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $5 for students, senior and retired military (with ID). Active military (with ID) and children under six years of age are free.

Brooke Pleger will compete in the weight throw at Grand Valley State's The Big Meet and Makenzie Wheat will take part in the shot put. Both events are scheduled to begin at 2 pm.

The tentative schedule of events at the SPIRE Invitational is listed below:

Friday
2 pm – Pentathlon
2 pm – Weight throw
5:30 pm – 600
6 pm – 1,000
6:30 pm – 200
7:10 pm – Distance medley relay
7:40 pm – 5,000

Saturday
10:00 am – Shot put
10:00 am – Long jump
10:45 am – Mile section 3
11:25 am – 60 hurdles prelims
12 pm – 60 prelims
12 pm – High jump
12:35 pm – 3,000 section 3
1:20 pm – 400
1:55 pm – 800
2:00 pm – Triple jump
2:20 pm – 60 hurdles finals
2:45 pm – 60 finals
3:20 pm – 3,000 elite sections 1 and 2
4:05 pm – Mile elite sections 1 and 2
4:35 pm – 1600 relay

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"We have a great opportunity this weekend to compete against some of the best in the country in a top-notch facility. We need to take advantage of that opportunity to send our best possible team to the MAC Championships in a little over two weeks."
--BGSU head coach Lou Snelling

MAC RANKINGS
With just one regular season weekend remaining, the Falcons have shown both elite top-end talent and depth. Five Falcons rank among the top four in the MAC in an event with senior Brittany Sinclair being the top-ranked 400 runner in the league. In total, nine Falcons have earned MAC automatic qualifying marks. In all, BGSU has 15 marks among the top 10 in the conference and another 14 place among the top 20. Listed below are all student-athletes ranked in the top 20 in the conference in an event.

60 – 7. Alicia Arnold 7.63 (AQ), 11. Dorresha Green 7.71
200 – 2. Alicia Arnold #24.53 (AQ), 12. Brittany Sinclair #25.03, 16. Cortisha Short #25.16, t19. Taylor Rambo #25.34, t19. Kera Lamotte #25.34
400 – 1. Brittany Sinclair 55.46 (AQ)
5000 – 11. Becca Rae 17:37.36, 13. Andrea Alt 17:42.78, 17. Amanda Garlak 18:00.08, 18. Allison Francis 18:03.22
60 hurdles – 12. Demetra Taylor 8.94
1600 relay – 7. Bowling Green #3:52.18
High jump – 11. Raven Porter 5-5, 16. Krystin Reiser 5-4.25
Long jump – 4. Alicia Arnold 19-0.5 (AQ), 13. Kyla Paster 18-3.75, 17. Sydnee Matthew 17-11, 18. Raven Porter 17-10.75
Triple jump – 7. Kyla Paster 38-3.5, 9. Tiera Parker 38-1.5, 15. Raven Porter 36-6.75
Shot put – 4. Makenzie Wheat 52-1 (AQ), 6. Aliyah Gustafson 49-4.5 (AQ)
Weight throw – 3. Brooke Pleger 68-2.5 (AQ), 6. Kori Reiser 58-5.75 (AQ), 8. Kayla Velasquez 56-11.5 (AQ), 12. Aliyah Gustafson 54-8
Pentathlon – 5. Krystin Reiser 3,353, 7. Sydnee Matthew 3,036

AQ – Surpassed MAC automatic qualifying mark
# - Converted time

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Brooke Pleger currently ranks among the top 20 in the country in the weight throw, a position that would qualify her for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. In total, four Falcons rank among the top 100 in the country over three events. They are listed below.

400 – 100. Brittany Sinclair 55.46
Shot put – 27. Makenzie Wheat 52-1, 63. Aliyah Gustafson 49-4.5
Weight throw – 11. Brooke Pleger 68-2.5

GOLD RECORDS
BGSU has broken four school records this year and senior Brittany Sinclair has etched her name at the top of the record books in two different events. Sinclair broke the school record in the 300 at the BG Opener with a time of 40.67 seconds, better than the previous mark of 41.05 seconds by Brittani McNeal in 2007. She then broke the school record in the 400 at the Akron Invitational, a record that had stood for 16 years. Her time of 55.46 seconds bested Tracy Hill's time of 55.75 seconds in 1999.

Senior Brooke Pleger also broke a school record at the Akron Invitational, bettering her own record in the weight throw. With a toss of 68-feet-2.5, she was more than four inches better than the mark she set a year ago of 67-10.25.

Finally, sophomore Makenzie Wheat broke a 21-year old school record in the shot put at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, throwing it 52-1. The old mark was established in 1994 when two-time All-American Nikki Lessig posted a distance of 51-4.5.

FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTING EARLY
Six BGSU freshmen are ranked among the top 20 in the MAC over nine different statistical categories. Kyla Paster is ranked seventh in the triple jump and 13^th in the long jump. Redshirt freshman Aliyah Gustafson is sixth in the shot put and 12^th in the weight throw, while Sydnee Matthew is seventh in the pentathlon and 17^th in the long jump. Dorresha Green (No. 11 in the 60), Cortisha Short (No. 16 in the 200) and Allison Francis (No. 18 in the 5000) are also freshmen producing early in their careers.

HEAVING HEAVY OBJECTS
The Mid-American Conference is one of the best in the country at producing throwers and Bowling Green's throws program is one of the best in the MAC. BGSU has two shot putters and four weight throwers ranked among the top 12 in the conference. Sophomore Makenzie Wheat and redshirt freshman Aliyah Gustafson are both among the favorites in the shot put and Brooke Pleger, Kori Reiser and Kayla Velasquez are among the elite in the weight throw.

MAC PRESEASON RANKINGS
The coaches of the Mid-American Conference picked Bowling Green to finish 10^th in the 2014-15 preseason poll. Kent State was picked to win the league, followed by Akron, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo and Western Michigan. Toledo was sixth, with Central Michigan, Miami and Northern Illinois following. After Bowling Green, Ohio and Ball State were picked 11^th and 12^th.

YOUTH STILL RULES
While the BGSU Track and Field program has matured over the past few years, the team is still extremely young. In total, there are only four seniors on the 2014-15 roster to go with nine juniors, 12 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.