Indoor Season Hits Home Stretch This Weekend

Friday, February 6

Akron, Ohio

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Akron Invitational

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 05, 2015 | Women's Track and Field

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

Bowling Green, Ohio – With just two regular season meets remaining, the Bowling Green State University indoor track and field team will compete at the Akron Invitational Friday and Saturday. The Falcons will be attempting to earn more MAC automatic qualifying marks as the team prepares for the league's indoor championship.

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 AKRON INVITATIONAL
The Akron Invitational will take place Friday and Saturday at The Stile Athletics Field House. There will be no team scores and field events begin at 3 pm Friday, with running events starting at 8 pm. On Saturday, events begin at 9 am. Some events are broken into gold (elite) and blue (normal) divisions. The tentative schedule is listed below.

Friday
3 pm – Discus blue
5:15 pm – Pentathlon 60 hurdles
6 pm – Discus gold
6:30 pm – Long jump blue
8 pm – Distance medley relay
8:45 pm - 5000

Saturday
9 am – 3000 blue, rolling into Mile blue
11 am – Weight throw blue
11 am – Triple jump blue
11 am – High jump blue
11:45 am – 60 hurdles prelims
11:45 am – 400 blue
12:45 pm – 60 prelims, rolling into 800 blue, rolling into 200 blue
3:10 pm – Long jump gold
3:10 pm – Shot put gold
3:10 pm – Weight throw gold
3:30 pm – Mile gold
3:45 pm – 60 hurdles finals
4:05 pm – 400 gold
4:25 pm – 60 finals
4:30 pm – High jump gold
4:30 pm – Triple jump gold
4:45 pm – 800 gold
5:05 pm – 200 gold
5:15 pm – 3000 gold
6:00 pm – 1600 relay

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"We have the opportunity to send our strongest team to the MAC Indoor Championships in many years. We can make that opportunity a reality by taking advantage of the next two weekends and the level of competition we will face."
--BGSU head coach Lou Snelling

MAC RANKINGS
With the season underway, the Falcons have shown both elite top-end talent and depth. Three Falcons rank among the top three in the MAC in an event (Alicia Arnold is second in the 200 and third in the long jump, while Brooke Pleger is third in the weight throw). In total, eight 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 – 6. 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. Gabrielle Edwards #25.43
400 – 7. Brittany Sinclair #56.61
5000 – 7. Becca Rae 17:37.36, 9. Andrea Alt 17:42.78, 14. Amanda Garlak 18:00.08, 16. Allison Francis 18:03.22
60 hurdles – 11. Demetra Taylor 8.94
1600 relay – 7. Bowling Green #3:52.18
High jump – 10. Raven Porter 5-5, 17. Krystin Reiser 5-3
Long jump – 3. Alicia Arnold 19-0.5 (AQ), 11. Kyla Paster 18-3.75, 13. Raven Porter 17-10.75, 16. Sydnee Matthew 17-9.5
Triple jump – 6. Kyla Paster 38-3.5, 7. Tiera Parker 38-1.5, 14. 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 67-8 (AQ), 6. Kori Reiser 58-5.75 (AQ), 8. Kayla Velasquez 56-11.5 (AQ), 12. Aliyah Gustafson 54-8

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, three Falcons rank among the top 100 in the country in an event. They are listed below.

Shot put – 26. Makenzie Wheat 52-1, 59. Aliyah Gustafson 49-4.5
Weight throw – 12. Brooke Pleger 67-8

# - Converted time

GOLD RECORDS
Senior Brittany Sinclair and Sophomore Makenzie Wheat have etched their names in the BGSU record book this year. At the BG Opener, Sinclair broke the school record in the 300 with a time of 40.67 seconds, better than the old record of 41.05 seconds set by Brittani McNeal in 2007. Wheat broke a 21-year old school record in the shot put at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, throwing the apparatus 52-feet-1.

FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTING EARLY
Six BGSU freshmen are ranked among the top 20 in the MAC over eight different statistical categories. Kyla Paster leads the way as she is ranked sixth in the triple jump and 11^th in the long jump. Redshirt freshman Aliyah Gustafson is also sixth in the shot put and 12^th in the weight throw. Dorresha Green (No. 11 in the 60), Cortisha Short (No. 16 in the 200), Allison Francis (No. 16 in the 5000) and Sydnee Matthew (No. 16 in the long jump) 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. Already, 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. The team is slated to compete 29 times in individual events Friday and Saturday and six of those will come from freshmen. Sophomores are entered 10 times, followed by juniors nine times and seniors four times. 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.