Velasquez, Reiser Provide Point-Scoring Punch For Falcons At MAC Championships

Friday, February 26

Akron, Ohio

TBA

Bowling Green State University

MAC Championships

Photo by: Jeff Harwell

Velasquez, Reiser Provide Point-Scoring Punch For Falcons At MAC Championships

February 26, 2016 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Matt Cooper, Athletic Communications

Day One Results (.pdf)

Akron, Ohio - The first day of the MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships is in the books and the Bowling Green Falcons sit in 10^th place with six team points. BGSU scored all of its points in the weight throw but also set itself up to add to its total with strong prelim performances and trail fourth place by just 10 points.

"There were a lot of positives today, but overall we wanted more," BGSU Track and Field Coach Lou Snelling said. "Tomorrow is a new day with a lot of opportunities. If we can bring focus we can be in the mix to achieve our team goals."

The Falcons will look for opportunities to place in Saturday's events and rack up more points. Akron leads the meet with 38 points, followed closely by Eastern Michigan with 37 and Kent State with 34. Central Michigan and Buffalo are a distant fourth with 16 points.

The Falcons got onto the podium early in the 20-pound weight throw. Solid efforts put in by both Kori Reiser and Kayla Velasquez earned the Falcons six points in the event. Reiser had her best throw of the day at 57-feet-5 after advancing to the finals, giving her a seventh place finish in the event. Her teammate Velasquez also advanced to the finals and also threw her best of the day at 58-5. That toss gave her a fifth place finish in the event.

On the track, Taylor Rambo began things off and set a personal best in the 400. Previously, Rambo's best was 56.69 but she had a tremendous race which clocked in at 55.80. Tiera Parker just broke her personal best in the 60 with a time of 7.67, just .01 faster than her career quickest. Then Alicia Arnold flew down the track and finished second in her heat with a time of 7.57, which qualified her for the 60 final Saturday.

The Falcons showed out in the 200 prelims. Cortisha Short broke her personal best by 0.36 seconds with a time of 24.96 seconds. Another personal best was set by Kera Lamotte at 24.83 -- 0.10 seconds faster than her previous best. In the same heat, Arnold ran away from the rest of her competitors and won the heat with a time of 24.40, qualifying for Saturday's finals.

In the 5000, Becca Rae smashed her previous personal best by more than 17 seconds with a time of 17:14.90.

Bowling Green will return to action Saturday at the MAC Championships. Raven Porter will open up the second day of the meet for the Falcons in the high jump at 1 pm.

MAC Championships
60 prelims – 5. Alicia Arnold 7.57, 11. Tiera Parker 7.67, 15. Dorresha Green 7.73
200 prelims – 6. Alicia Arnold 24.40, 13. Kera Lamotte 24.83, 15. Cortisha Short 24.96
400 prelims – 11. Taylor Rambo 55.80
5000 – 10. Becca Rae 17:14.90, 12. Mackenzie McMillin 17:19.33, 16. Rebecca Schott 17:37.71
Distance Medley Relay – 11. Natalee Cole, Gabrielle Edwards, Cheyenne Oswald, Rachel Durbin 12:46.78
Long jump – 9. Kyla Paster 18-9.75, 12. Jade Nolan 18-7.25, 16. Tiera Parker 18-2.25
Weight throw – 5. Kayla Velasquez 58-10.25, 7. Kori Reiser 57-5, 13. Allie Farmer 52-9.5