Walny Captures Second Straight Mel Brodt As Falcons Continue to Improve

Friday, September 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

6:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

Walny Captures Second Straight Mel Brodt As Falcons Continue to Improve

September 16, 2016 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

Final Men's 8K Results
Final Women's 5K Results
Photo Gallery

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Rachel Walny opened her redshirt sophomore season exactly as she did her freshman campaign, as the Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams hosted the 29th Mel Brodt Collegiate Invitational on Friday, Sept. 16 in Bowling Green. Walny, who was named All-MAC and MAC Freshman of the Year in 2015, won the Mel Brodt for the second consecutive year.

"It was a pretty solid day for us. I'm very happy with how we performed up front in particular. Obviously, Rachel Walny won her second Mel Brodt title in a row, a little faster than she ran last year. She's in a good place right now, and I'm happy to see that," said BGSU cross country head coach Lou Snelling. "The bigger story though might be Becca Schott, she ran about a minute faster than she did last year. Our big thing is progress. What we did two weeks ago, we want to be better at it today, and we want to be better in two weeks, as well."

The men's 8,000-meter race went first. Sophomore Noah Schaub set a personal best in an 8K race and placed second overall with a time of 25:57.5. He crossed the finish line just 3.3 seconds behind the winner. Schaub's previous best was 26:05.9 at last season's All-Ohio Championships. He placed ninth at the 2015 Mel Brodt and fourth at the Toledo Opener on Sept. 2.

Four other runners from the men's cross country team competed for the Falcons. Sophomore Jonathan Wenning (26:26.6) took seventh place, while junior Nick Voth finished tenth in 26:54.4. Voth's time was the second-best 8K time of his career and an improvement over 41 seconds from the 2014 Mel Brodt. Sophomore Tyler Phillips (26:58.3) placed 12th, and junior Jacob Schenten (26:58.9) earned 13th.

The men's field included 42 runners. The competing teams were BGSU, Toledo, and Fort Wayne, as well as club teams from BGSU and Toledo.

Walny dominated the women's 5,000-meter race from start to finish. She quickly jumped out to an early lead that she never relinquished, and she completed the distance in 17:16.2, which was 25.8 seconds faster than the second-place runner. Walny's time also represents a personal record, 3.9 seconds faster than her previous record, set at last season's Mel Brodt.

However, redshirt junior Rebecca Schott was perhaps the best surprise of the entire meet for BGSU. Schott placed fourth overall and second among attached runners with a time of 17:47.8. She set a personal record by 19.6 seconds and finished 57 seconds faster than she did at the 2015 Mel Brodt.

Junior Elena Lancioni nearly replicated Schott's feat. Lancioni crossed the finish in 18:09.2 and earned seventh place. She beat her previous personal best by 19.5 seconds, and her 2016 Mel Brodt time was 52 seconds better than in 2015.

Rachel Durbin (18:57.7) finished in 20th place, and Jody Musser (19:28.6) earned 28th. Both runners improved their times from one year ago in this meet. Two other Falcons competed: Kelsie Mothersead completed the distance in 19:29.8, while Allison Francis did so in 19:40.0. Freshman Allison Holahan (19:36.3) run unattached.

BGSU will return to action in two weeks. The men's team will travel to South Bend, Ind. For the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday, Sept. 30, while the women's team will race at the Louisville Cross Country Classic in Louisville, Ky. on Saturday, Oct. 1.