Falcons Shine at NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Friday, November 11

Madison, Wis.

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Photo by: David Meel

November 11, 2016 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

MEN'S RESULTS
WOMEN'S RESULTS

MADISON, Wisc. – The Bowling Green State University cross country teams concluded their 2016 seasons by competing at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship on Friday, Nov. 11. The meet was held in Madison, Wisc. at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course and hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

The women's team placed 15th out of 32 teams with 382 points. This is the third consecutive season in which the Falcons have placed in the top half of the field following finishes of ninth in 2015 and 13th in 2014.

Redshirt sophomore Rachel Walny led the Falcons with a 23rd-place finish. She earned All-Region honors for the second consecutive year and is the first BGSU runner to achieve that since Wendy Licht-Ordway and Christine Thompson both were All-Region in 1997 and 1998.

Walny finished the 6,000-meter race in 20:34.7, just six seconds shy of her BGSU school record and a 29-second improvement over her time at the 2015 Great Lakes Regional.

Three BGSU women's runners earned personal records in the 6K race. Rebecca Schott placed 59th out of the 224 runners in 21:27.6, which beat her previous personal best by 15 seconds. Rachel Durbin beat her previous record by 21 seconds and completed the run in 22:26.1, and Kelsie Mothersead's first regional ended in 23:32.8. That was her best time by 26 seconds.

Elena Lancioni finished in a sub-22:00 time of 21:58.8 and placed 90th overall. Freshman Cassandra Boyle earned a time of 22:03.3 in her first regional appearance.

The men's team took 19th place out of 30 teams and earned their best result at the Great Lakes Regional in 16 years, since a 17th-place finish in 2000.

Noah Schaub (32:01.5) and Kohl Taberner (32:03.5) were the Falcons' top runners, and they each set new personal records in a 10,000-meter race. Schaub saw a 1:45 improvement over his 2015 time, while Taberner was 17 seconds better than his previous mark. They each finished in the top third of the 206-runner field.

Jonathan Wenning also placed in the top 100 and earned a personal record time (32:31.3). Tyler Phillips (33:13.1) and Jacob Schenten (33:45.3) each ran in their first regional. Paul Garbarino (35:34.4) and Kyle Repetto (34:20.3) rounded out the BGSU effort.

Rachel Walny is in position to compete for an at-large berth to the NCAA National Championship, which will be held in Terra Haute, Ind. on Nov. 19. However, she needs three of seven teams to receive at-large team bids to the national meet.

Those teams are Wisconsin, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, Purdue, Butler, Indiana and Miami. If three of those seven teams earn at-large bids, then Walny would be one of the top four runners in the regional to not be on a team in the national meet. Those top four runners would receive invitations to Terra Haute.

The full list of teams and individuals invited to the NCAA National Championships will be released at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12.