Divide And Conquer: Falcons Split Squad For Friday Meets

FINDLAY OPEN AND ELITE THROWS MEET

MEET INFORMATION	Friday, Feb. 12 - 12 pm
LOCATION	Findlay, Ohio (Malcom Athletic Center)
PERFORMANCE LIST	BGSUFalcons.com

GVSU BIG MEET

MEET INFORMATION	Friday, Feb. 12 - 10:20 am
LOCATION	Allendale, Mich. (Kelly Family Sports Center)
LIVE STATS	GVSULakers.com
PERFORMANCE LIST	BGSUFalcons.com

Bowling Green, Ohio – For the second time in three weeks, Bowling Green will send its track and field team to two different meets in preparation for the Mid-American Conference Championships. The Falcon throwers will compete at the Findlay Open and Elite Throws meet Friday, while the rest of the team will compete at the GVSU Big Meet, hosted by Grand Valley State University, Friday.

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 @BG_XCTrack
Instagram – BGFalcons and BG_XCTrack
Facebook – BGSU Athletics
YouTube – FalconAthletics
Snapchat – BG_XCTrack

ABOUT THE FINDLAY OPEN AND ELITE THROWS MEET
BGSU will send competitors to Findlay to take part in the shot put and the weight throw Friday. The meet is split into open and elite divisions at Malcolm Athletic Center and is open to collegiate and post-collegiate entrants. Aliyah Gustafson and Makenzie Wheat will compete in the shot put, while Gustafson, Allie Farmer, Kori Reiser and Kayla Velasquez will compete in the weight throw. The schedule for both events is as follows:

Friday
12 pm – Weight throw open
1:45 pm – Shot put open
3:45 pm – Shot put elite
6 pm – Weight throw elite

ABOUT THE GVSU BIG MEET
The GVSU Big Meet will be held at Grand Valley State's Kelly Family Sports Center. Admission is $10 for spectators. The schedule of events is listed as follows:

Friday
10:20 am – 5000 (Andrea Alt, Mackenzie McMillin, Elena Lancioni, Allison Francis, Rebecca Schott)
12:30 pm – Long jump (Tiera Parker, Kyla Paster, Raven Porter)
12:45 pm – 60 hurdles semifinals (Demetra Taylor)
1:15 pm – 60 semifinals (Dorresha Green, Kera Lamotte, Kyla Paster)
1:45 pm - 600
2 pm – High jump (Raven Porter)
3 pm – Long jump invite
3:05 pm – 60 hurdles finals
3:15 pm – 60 finals
3:20 pm – 400 (Gabrielle Edwards, Taylor Rambo, Cheyenne Oswald)
4:05 pm – Mile (Jasmine Redman, Rachel Durbin)
5:30 pm – Triple jump (Africa Strodes)
5:35 pm – 800 (Natalee Cole)
6:15 pm – 200 (Dorresha Green, Brianna Johnson, Cortisha Short, Gabrielle Edwards, Taylor Rambo, Kera Lamotte)
7:00 pm – 3000 (Becca Rae, Andrea Alt, Mackenzie McMillin)
7:35 pm – 1600 relay

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"We are excited about the progress the program has made this year. We're ahead of last year in almost every way. Friday is our last big opportunity to solidify an even better position heading into the MAC Indoor Championships." – BGSU Head Coach Lou Snelling

LAST WEEK'S MEET
Alicia Arnold set new personal bests in both the 60 and the 200 as Bowling Green competed at the Akron Invitational Friday and Saturday. Along with the strong performance from Arnold, Kayla Velasquez added a win in the blue division of the weight throw with a toss of 57-10.25.

THAT'S SO RAVEN
Bowling Green junior Raven Porter set a new personal best in the high jump at the BG Opener and was named MAC Field Athlete of the Week for the performance. She leaped 5-feet-8.75, a mark that ranks 60th nationally and is more than two inches higher than her previous best. She currently ranks fourth in the MAC in the event.

MAC RANKINGS
BGSU ranks among the top three in the MAC in five different events this year, led by Alicia Arnold's second-place ranking in the 200. Arnold is also third in the 60, while Jade Nolan is third in the long jump. Triple jumper Tiera Parker and shot putter Aliyah Gustafson are also third in the MAC currently. In total, BGSU has 14 marks among the top 10 in the conference and another 10 among the top 20. Listed below are all student-athletes ranked in the top 20 in the conference in an event.

60 – 3. Alicia Arnold 7.53 (AQ), 13. Tiera Parker 7.68, 15. Dorresha Green 7.70
200 – 2. Alicia Arnold 24.28 (AQ), 19. Kera Lamotte 24.93
400 – 19. Taylor Rambo 57.53
5,000 – 14. Becca Rae 17:32.59
1600 relay – 10. Bowling Green 3:56.53#
High jump – 4. Raven Porter 5-8.75 (AQ)
Long jump – 3. Jade Nolan 19-6 (AQ), 7. Alicia Arnold 19-3.25 (AQ), 10. Tiera Parker 18-11.25 (AQ), 12. Kyla Paster 18-8.5
Triple jump – 3. Tiera Parker 39-10 (AQ), 5. Kyla Paster 38-8.75 (AQ), 13. Jade Nolan 37-10.75, 16. Africa Strodes 37-1.75
Shot put – 3. Aliyah Gustafson 51-5 (AQ), 5. Makenzie Wheat 51-1.75 (AQ)
Weight throw – 7. Kori Reiser 58-8.5 (AQ), 9. Kayla Velasquez 58-2.5 (AQ), 11. Aliyah Gustafson 56-9.25, 15. Allie Farmer 54-8
Pentathlon – 9. Sydnee Matthew 3,087

AQ – Surpassed MAC automatic qualifying mark
# - Converted time

NATIONAL RANKINGS
At the Akron Invitational, Alicia Arnold moved into the top 100 in the 200 with a time of 24.28 seconds. Currently, the Falcons have two of the top 50 shot putters in the nation, with Aliyah Gustafson leading the way in 41st at 51-feet-5. Makenzie Wheat is 45th at 51-1.75. Listed below are all seven Falcons ranked among the top 100 nationally in an event.

200 – 98. Alicia Arnold 24.28
High jump – 60. Raven Porter 5-8.75
Long jump – 73. Jade Nolan 19-6, 97. Alicia Arnold 19-3.25
Triple jump – 87. Tiera Parker 39-10
Shot put – 41. Aliyah Gustafson 51-5, 45. Makenzie Wheat 51-1.75

JUMP AROUND
Across the Mid-American Conference, 29 student-athletes have earned MAC automatic qualifying marks in either the triple jump, long jump or high jump. Six of those marks are held by BGSU student-athletes. The Falcons have three of the top 10 long jumpers in the conference (all of which have earned MAC auto marks) and two of the top five triple jumpers. As well, Raven Porter ranks fourth in the MAC in the high jump. A year ago, the Falcons earned just two top eight finishes at the MAC Championships in the jumping events.

BACK ON TRACK
Aliyah Gustafson was poised to have a breakout year in 2015 before a knee injury early in the indoor season sidelined her. However, she has returned to form in 2016 and has already unleashed the second-longest shot put in program history. Her throw of 51-feet-5 at the Tom Wright Open ranks 33rd nationally and second in the MAC. She also ranks 11th in the conference in the weight throw.

BID CLINCHED
Bowling Green earned six Mid-American Conference automatic qualifying marks in the season opener at Grand Valley State and then added four more at the BG Opener. BGSU then moved the total to a dozen with two more automatic marks at the Tom Wright Open. A year ago, the Falcons did not hit a MAC auto mark in its December meet and had just seven at this same point in the season. In fact, the Falcons hit just 11 MAC auto marks for the entire indoor season in 2015. BGSU already has MAC automatic qualifying marks from three student-athletes in the long jump and two in each of the following events – triple jump, shot put and weight throw.

AGILE AND VERSATILE
Senior Alicia Arnold has proven to be a significant point-scorer at MAC Championship meets, finishing with runner-up finishes in the 200 and 400 relay and a third place finish in the 100 during the 2015 MAC Outdoor Championships. She has potential to pull off a similar feat at the MAC Indoor Championships this year and has already qualified automatically for three events – the long jump, 60 and 200. She ranks in the top three in the conference in the 60 and 200, as well as seventh in the long jump.

JADE IS A GEM
While a jade is a gemstone, freshman Jade Nolan has proven to be one of the freshmen gems in the Mid-American Conference in the early-going. Nolan has already met the MAC automatic qualifying standard in the long jump and is close in the triple jump. She ranks third in the MAC and 73rd nationally in the long jump.

A VETERAN PRESENCE
A year ago, the Falcons had 26 entrants in individual events at the MAC Championships. Student-athletes who represent 20 of those entries return for the 2015-16 season, as well as three of four runners from the 1600 relay team at the MAC Championships. Returning point scorers include Alicia Arnold (3rd/200; 5th/Long jump; 6th/60), Dorresha Green (5th/60), Raven Porter (7th/High jump), Demetra Taylor (7th/60 hurdles), Kayla Velasquez (7th/Weight throw) and Makenzie Wheat (6th/Shot put).

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Players Mentioned

Andrea Alt

Alicia Arnold

Natalee Cole

Rachel Durbin

Gabrielle Edwards

Allie Farmer

Allison Francis

Dorresha Green

Aliyah Gustafson

Brianna Johnson

Kera Lamotte

Elena Lancioni

Sydnee Matthew

Mackenzie McMillin

Jade Nolan

Cheyenne Oswald

Tiera Parker

Kyla Paster

Raven Porter

Becca Rae

Taylor Rambo

Jasmine Redman

Kori Reiser

Rebecca Schott

Cortisha Short

Africa Strodes

Demetra Taylor

Kayla Velasquez

Makenzie Wheat

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