Falcons Clip Rockets For Third Straight Year, 103-96

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Toledo, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University Track & Field Team defeated archrival Toledo for the third consecutive year, winning on Toledo's home track Friday 103-96. BGSU won 11-of-18 events to earn the victory over the Rockets yet again.

"I'm proud of the girls," BGSU Head Coach Lou Snelling said. "Despite the conditions and despite the weather, we competed through the end. Whatever the adversity might be, we have to deal with it. We were gutsy today. We got it done."

Bowling Green led by five points heading into the final event, the 1600 relay, and the Falcons needed just to get around the track cleanly. BGSU did more than that, though, as redshirt sophomore Taylor Rambo overtook the Toledo runner on the home stretch to win the race and seal the meet.

The individual performance of the meet came from senior Brooke Pleger. Competing in her first outdoor meet since placing third in the hammer throw at the NCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships a year ago, Pleger posted the best mark by a collegian this year. Her best throw of 222-feet-4.5 was easily enough to win, but that was not the most impressive feat. While she stepped into the circle six times, her fourth-best throw of the day would have been good enough to place her first in the country (adding throws of 222-4, 221-7 and 221-1).

"She's just going to get better from there," Snelling said. "It's going to be fun to see where she takes it from here. Being her senior year, it's going to be exciting."

Pleger wasn't the only Falcon to have a strong performance in the hammer throw. Redshirt sophomores Kori Reiser and Kayla Velasquez placed second and third with MAC automatic qualifying marks. Reiser tossed the hammer 183-4.75, just shy of her personal best, and Velasquez set a new PR at 178-6.75. Velasquez moved into the top 10 in BGSU history in the hammer at No. 9. Pleger and Reiser already reside in the No. 1 and No. 7 spots respectively.

Senior Brittany Sinclair added a big spark for the Falcons as well. While she ranks first in the MAC in both the 400 and the 400 hurdles, she stepped away from those events Friday and was the only athlete in orange and brown to earn two individual victories. She picked up wins in both the 100 and 200, leading the team to a sweep of the top two spots in both events. Freshman Dorresha Green was second in the 100 and junior Kera Lamotte was runner-up in the 200.

In the shot put, sophomore Makenzie Wheat, who qualified for the NCAA Regional Preliminary round a year ago, set a new personal best with a winning throw of 49-7. That was more than a foot further than her regional qualifying distance of 48-4.5 a year ago and moved her up to fifth in BGSU history in the event. Senior Krystin Reiser, who will focus on the heptathlon as the year wears on, also set a personal best in the shot put with a toss of 35-11.5 to finish third.

Throughout the meet, numerous Bowling Green student-athletes set new personal bests such as sophomore Gabrielle Edwards. She ran 58.45 seconds in the 400 to earn the victory and chop more than a full second off her previous best time of 59.75.

Other event winners on the day included junior Demetra Taylor in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:03.92, sophomore Raven Porter in the high jump at 5-4.5, junior Alicia Arnold in the long jump at 19-0.75 and Kori Reiser in the discus at 149-4.5. Also the 400 relay team of Arnold, Sinclair, Lamotte and Green raced to a winning time of 47.34 seconds. The 1600 relay team that iced the win included Rambo, Edwards, freshman Cortisha Short and Taylor.

Bowling Green will look to continue the strong start to the outdoor season when the Falcons travel to the Tennessee Relays in Knoxville, Tenn. for three days beginning Thursday.

BGSU 103, Toledo 96
100 – 1. Brittany Sinclair 12.51, 2. Dorresha Green 12.63, 4. Brianna Johnson 12.69
200 – 1. Brittany Sinclair 25.21, 2. Kera Lamotte 25.23, 3. Brianna Johnson 25.49, 5. Dorresha Green 25.88, 6. Taylor Rambo 26.16
400 – 1. Gabrielle Edwards 58.45, 2. Cortisha Short 59.34, 5. Leah Runkle 1:04.44
800 – 5. Maria Meredith 2:17.94, 6. Lindsay Kaatz 2:31.48
1500 – 4. Lindsay Kaatz 4:53.32, 6. Rachel Durbin 4:59.76
3000 – 6. Rebecca Schott 10:31.39, 8. Amanda Garlak 10:41.56, 9. Allison Francis 10:43.19
100 hurdles – 2. Sydnee Matthew 15.94, 3. Krystin Reiser 17.48
400 hurdles – 1. Demetra Taylor 1:03.92, 4. Connor Kempf 1:07.65, 6. Natalie Sommerville 1:08.87
2000 steeplechase – 3. Andrea Alt 7:07.88, 4. Becca Rae 7:12.36
400 relay – 1. BGSU 47.34
1600 relay – 1. BGSU 3:55.50
High jump – 1. Raven Porter 5-4.5, 3. Alicia Arnold 5-2.25, 4. Krystin Reiser 5-1
Long jump – 1. Alicia Arnold 19-0.75, 2. Raven Porter 18-7.25, 5. Sydnee Matthew 17-9.75
Triple jump – 2. Tiera Parker 37-10, 3. Kyla Paster 37-9.5, 5. Raven Porter 36-3.5
Shot put – 1. Makenzie Wheat 49-7, 3. Krystin Reiser 35-11.5
Discus – 1. Kori Reiser 149-4.5, 3. Kayla Velasquez 130-9.5
Hammer throw – 1. Brooke Pleger 222-4.5, 2. Kori Reiser 183-4.75, 3. Kayla Velasquez 178-6.75
Javelin – 2. Libby Burkhart 104-1.5, 4. Sydnee Matthew 77-9

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Alt

Alicia Arnold

Libby Burkhart

Rachel Durbin

Gabrielle Edwards

Allison Francis

Amanda Garlak

Dorresha Green

Brianna Johnson

Lindsay Kaatz

Connor Kempf

Kera Lamotte

Sydnee Matthew

Maria Meredith

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

Makenzie Wheat

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