BGSU Hosts 29th Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational on Friday, Sept. 16

Friday, September 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

6:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational

BGSU Hosts 29th Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational on Friday, Sept. 16

September 15, 2016 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams will return to action on Friday, Sept. 16 when they host the 2016 Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational. The event is named after Mel Brodt, who spent 25 years as BGSU cross country head coach and 20 as the Falcons' track and field head coach. Brodt coached 53 All-Americans, 92 MAC champions, and an Olympic champion (Dave Wottle, 1972, 800m). This is the 29th edition of the meet, which began shortly after Brodt's retirement in 1984.

THE MEL BRODT COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL
Bowling Green will host the 29th Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16. The Falcons will get another opportunity to compete against the Toledo Rockets and will also square off against the Fort Wayne Mastadons. The men's 8K race occurs first, and at 7:10 p.m., the women's 5K race begins. Both events will take place on Forrest Creason Golf Course, adjacent to Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Head coach Lou Snelling:
"We'll see a few more athletes in uniform this Friday, closer to a complete team. With it still fairly early in the season, we are focusing on taking care of the basics and progressing from two weeks ago."

Nick Voth (Junior):
"We're excited to be able to race in front of a home crowd and are looking to build confidence for later in the season. We want to continue to work together as a team. If we race with each other, good results will come."

Rebecca Schott (R-Junior):
"In the first meet, we got some kinks out and tuned up for later in the season. Now, we want to build on that, and we'll be getting some new faces in uniform. We want to beat Toledo and Fort Wayne and put on a good show on our home course."

LAST TIME OUT
The BGSU cross country teams began the 2016 season on Friday, Sept. 2 by competing in the Toledo Invitational. Jonathan Wenning led the way for the Falcons in the 5K men's race with a third place finish, while Cassandra boyle placed sixth in the women's 5K race. Both runners had personal best times. Other personal-best runners included Noah Schaub, Kohl Taberner, Nick Voth and Rebecca Schott.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
BGSU returns plenty of experience at the Mel Brodt meet for this year's event. Redshirt sophomore Rachel Walny won last year's Mel Brodt in 17:20.1 and finished 10th as an unattached runner in 2014. Several other runners have experience on the course, including Rebecca Schott, Elena Lancioni, Jody Musser, Rachel Durbin, Allison Francis and Cassie Boyle.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
The Falcons return eight runners who competed in the Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational in 2015 and two who have ran in this meet multiple times. Nathan Kuck finished third in a 5K race in 2015 with a time of 15:53.2 and competed in the 8K event in 2013. Nick Voth placed 16th last year in the 5K and, in 2014, placed 11th in the 8K run. Tyler Phillips (5th), Noah Schaub (9th), and Jonathan Wenning (10th) all placed in the top 10 in 2015, while Paul Garbarino, Kyle Repetto and Kohl Taberner also competed.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
You can keep up the Falcons on social media in a number of different ways. On Twitter, follow @BGAthletics and @BG_XCTrack. On Instagram, follow 'bgfalcons' and 'bg_xctrack". You can also find us on Facebook by searching for 'BGSU Athletics' and on YouTube at 'FalconAthletics'.