Sixteen Falcons Named to Cross Country Academic All-MAC Teams

Photo by: Christine Nelson, BGSU Marketing & Communications

November 18, 2016 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

MEN'S TEAM
WOMEN'S TEAM

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams each placed eight athletes on the 2016 Mid-American Conference Cross Country Academic All-MAC teams, as announced by the conference office on Friday, Nov. 18. An amazing eighty percent of both squads earned the honor.

The eight runners from the women's team named Academic All-MAC include sophomore Cassandra Boyle, senior Rachel Durbin, senior Allison Francis, junior Elena Lancioni, sophomore Kelsie Mothersead, senior Jody Musser, senior Rebecca Schott, and junior Rachel Walny.

Walny carries a 4.000 grade point average in exercise science. She was named the MAC's Female Scholar Athlete of the Week on Sept. 21. This is her second consecutive Academic All-MAC honor in cross country; she also earned the honor and was a MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete during the 2016 outdoor track and field season.

In the just completed cross country season, Walny set a new BGSU 5,000-meter record at the Louisville Cross Country Classic, became BGSU's first runner-up at the MAC Championships since 1999, and earned All-Region honors at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional for the second consecutive year.

Mothersead also owns a perfect 4.000 grade point average in exercise science and competed in all six of BGSU's events in 2016. She redshirted during the 2015 season ini her initial year with the Falcons.

Boyle earned Academic All-MAC in her first full year of cross country competition after also getting the distinction during the 2016 outdoor track and field season. She set a personal record in the 6K at the Indiana State Pre-Nationals and finished in the top 20 at the MAC Championships.

Durbin competed in all six races for BGSU in 2016 and was named to the academic all-conference squad for the first time in cross country. She also garnered the honor in the 2016 indoor track and field season and has done so twice in outdoor track and field.

Four other Falcons joined Walny as repeat members of the Academic All-MAC team. Francis was named to the team for the third consecutive year, while Lancioni, Musser and Schott were placed on the list for the second year in a row. Schott was also a second-team All-MAC runner following an 11th-place finish at the 2016 MAC Championships.

The men's team also placed eight runners on the Academic All-MAC team: sophomore Paul Garbarino, senior Tyler Phillips, sophomore Kyle Repetto, sophomore Noah Schaub, junior Jacob Schenten, junior Kohl Taberner, junior Nick Voth and sophomore Jonathan Wenning.

Voth holds a 4.000 grade point average in exercise science and is on the Academic All-MAC team for the second consecutive year. He competed in five of BGSU's six events in 2016 and had his best 8,000-meter performance at the MAC Championships, where he placed 39th overall.

Taberner is also a repeat member of the Academic All-MAC team. He ran in five of six events for the Falcons and set new personal records at the MAC Championships and NCAA Great Lakes Regional. At the MACs, he finished the 8K in 25:44.9 and earned second-team All-MAC honors with a ninth place finish. He followed that with a time of 32:03.5 at the regionals. That was 17 seconds better than his previous record.

Schaub was BGSU's top runner in four of the Falcons' six meets during the 2016 season. He finished second overall at the Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational, BGSU's annual home event, then set personal records at the Indiana State Pre-Nationals and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

Bowling Green is tied with Toledo for the most athletes (eight) on the Academic All-MAC team, and the number is an improvement of five over 2015 for the Falcons.

Overall, BGSU placed 16 runners on the cross country Academic All-MAC teams, and that is second only to Eastern Michigan (18). The Falcons' three athletes with 4.000 GPAs are tied with EMU and Toledo for most in the conference.