Falcons Win Seven Events, Hit Four More Auto Marks At BG Opener

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University track and field team won seven events and the Falcons qualified four more student-athletes for the Mid-American Conference Championships at the BG Opener Saturday at newly renovated Perry Field House. As a team, the Falcons placed second at the meet.

Western Michigan took the overall team title with 149.5 points, followed by the Falcons with 130. Ball State was third with 101 points, followed by Toledo with 53.5 and Wright State with 38. The Falcons, though, won seven of the 16 events at the meet, tied with WMU. Ball State won the other two.

"We had a lot of good things happen today," BGSU Track and Field Coach Lou Snelling said. "It's really early but we have 10 MAC auto marks right now and we had 10 all of last year heading into the MAC Championships. From here, it's just continuing the momentum. There's a lot of potential there."

Senior Tiera Parker posted a strong all-around meet, earning one of the team's four MAC auto marks Saturday by winning the long jump. Her leap of 18-feet-11.25 is a personal best and she became the third Falcon to automatically qualify for the MAC Championships in the event after Jade Nolan and Alicia Arnold qualified in December at the GVSU Holiday Open.

Parker also set a new personal best in the 60 with a time of 7.68 seconds to finish third in the finals. But she was only the second fastest Falcon in that event. Senior Alicia Arnold won the 60 with a new personal best time of 7.57 seconds, another MAC automatic qualifying mark and tying her for the third fastest time in BGSU history. She ran the 60 as quickly as 7.63 seconds a year ago.

Junior Raven Porter put together one of the most impressive individual efforts of the day, winning the high jump by shattering her own PR of 5-6.25. She bested that by jumping 5-8.75, the fourth-best high jump in program history and a MAC automatic qualifying distance.

The final MAC automatic qualifying mark came from sophomore Kyla Paster in the triple jump as she also set a personal best with a distance of 38-7.5, fourth in BGSU history.

While all four of those efforts were event-winning performances, the Falcons also picked up three more victories. BGSU won both throwing events as redshirt Kori Reiser threw the weight throw 58-8.5 and redshirt sophomore Aliyah Gustafson tossed the shot put 49-2.25. Both had already automatically qualified for the MAC Championships in those events in December. Finally, the 800 relay team of Brianna Johnson, Cortisha Short, Dorresha Green and Kera Lamotte ran 1:41.78 to capture first place.

After just two indoor meets, the Falcons now had 10 MAC automatic qualifiers this year. A year ago, the Falcons had a program record four qualifiers at this point a year ago and just 10 heading into the MAC Championships in 2015. BGSU will look to add to that total Friday at the Bob Eubanks Open, hosted by Grand Valley State, beginning at 10:15 am.

BG Opener Results
Western Michigan 149.5, Bowling Green 130, Ball State 101, Toledo 53.5, Wright State 38

60 prelims – 1. Alicia Arnold 7.65, 4. Tiera Parker 7.78, 10. Jade Nolan 8.04, 11. Kyla Paster 8.04
60 finals – 1. Alicia Arnold 7.57, 3, Tiera Parker 7.68
200 – 3. Dorresha Green 26.02
400 – 2. Taylor Rambo 58.35, 5. Gabrielle Edwards 59.93, 7. Cheyenne Oswald 61.20, 9. Camerone Bryant 61.59
600 – 4. Natalee Cole 1:43.52
3000 – 9. Jody Musser 11:21.71
60 hurdles prelims – 4. Demetra Taylor 9.13, 9. Sydnee Matthew 9.37
60 hurdles finals – 5. Demetra Taylor 9.12
800 relay – 1. Brianna Johnson, Cortisha Short, Dorresha Green, Kera Lamotte 1:41.78, 3. Paichence Carter, Camerone Bryant, Cheyenne Oswald, Natalee Cole 1:47.17
1600 relay – 2. Gabrielle Edwards, Alicia Arnold, Kera Lamotte, Taylor Rambo 3:59.67
High jump – 1. Raven Porter 5-8.75, 11. Sydnee Matthew 4-9
Long jump – 1. Tiera Parker 18-11.25, 2. Jade Nolan 18-6.5, 3. Raven Porter 17-9.75, 6. Sydnee Matthew 17-1.5, 8. Africa Strodes 17-1.25
Triple jump – 1. Kyla Paster 38-7.5, 5. Africa Strodes 36-2.75
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Gustafson 49-2.25, 2. Makenzie Wheat 47-10
Weight throw – 1. Kori Reiser 58-8.5, 3. Kayla Velasquez 55-3, 4. Aliyah Gustafson 54-11.5, 6. Allie Farmer 50-8.25

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Players Mentioned

Alicia Arnold

Camerone Bryant

Paichence Carter

Natalee Cole

Gabrielle Edwards

Allie Farmer

Dorresha Green

Aliyah Gustafson

Brianna Johnson

Kera Lamotte

Sydnee Matthew

Jody Musser

Jade Nolan

Cheyenne Oswald

Tiera Parker

Kyla Paster

Raven Porter

Taylor Rambo

Kori Reiser

Cortisha Short

Africa Strodes

Demetra Taylor

Kayla Velasquez

Makenzie Wheat

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