Falcons Fly High At NCAA Great Lakes Regionals

Friday, November 10

Terre Haute, Ind.

TBA

Bowling Green State University

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

November 10, 2017 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: By Katherine Harvath, BGSU Athletic Communications

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams wrapped up a historic season at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional competition. The women raced first, finishing 17th of 34 teams behind a strong finish from Rachel Walny who was towards the front of the pack for the majority of the race. Looking to continue their historic run after the Mid-American Conference Championships two weeks ago, the men placed 19th of 30 total teams. The men were headed by junior Noah Schaub, who led pack through the first 4K.

The Field
It was a beautifully sunny day in Terra Haute for the Great Lakes Regional competition that hosted34 women's teams and 31 men's teams in the mix, including five nationally ranked teams. The 223 female participants were up first, running the 6K event at 11:15. The men followed at 12:15 in the 10K event, with a total of 187 athletes participating.

Women's 6K
For the third consecutive year, Walny was named to the Great Lakes All-Region team for her top-25 finish. This year she placed 19th overall.
Walny finished first for the Falcons, in 21:00.4.
Senior Elena Lancioni was the next Falcon to cross the line. In her final career race she finished with a time of 22:09.6, just over her season best.
Jessi Lindstrom and Rachel Durbin were neck-and-neck in the final stretch, finishing just two seconds and two places apart. Lindstrom completed the race in 22:49.7 while Durbin, also in her final meet, clocked in at 22:51.9.
In her first regionals meet, Claire Reynolds followed shortly behind, finishing the 6K in 23:12.9.
Sophomore Kelsie Mothersead crossed the line in 23:50.0.
Sarah Hunsley finished her first Great Lakes Regional meet in 24:29.5.

Men's 10K
In a hard fought race, with the front pack thick through the first 8K, Schaub finished first for the Falcons and 34th overall.
Schaub completed the 10K race in 31:55.1, a personal best.
The Falcons fly together, with Jacob Schenten and Jonathan Wenning finishing next to each other, as did Tyler Phillips and Jonathan Voth.
Schenten, in his final race in the orange and brown, finished in 33:15.8, good for a career best and 106th overall.
In 107th was Wenning, crossing the line at 33:18.7.
Phillips finished in 33:28.3. He was followed by Voth, who crossed next with a time of 33:29.6.
Freshman Gabe Garbarino came in with a time of 33:39.3.
Senior Kohl Taberner, competing for the last time as a Falcon, finished shortly behind, crossing the line in 33:43.7.

Quoting The Coach
"I really like the consistency we've been seeing," head coach Lou Snelling said. "Especially with Rachel [Walny], the ability to perform at such an elite level and be named All-Region in three consecutive seasons is pretty special."

"I was happy to see the guys run in a pack for a good amount of time of the race," assistant coach Juan Carrillo said. "Noah competed the way we planned. He ran with the best of the best in the front and that's experience no one can take that from him. He came short from all region by ten places but improved tremendously from his 93rd place finish last year."

"Today we grew as a team and learned more about each other. The best thing is that we return our top 3 for next year and we are very looking forward to that," he added.

Awards And Honors
Redshirt junior Walny was named to the All-Region team for the third straight year after finishing 19th. She previously was honored for her 23rd place performance in 2016 and 24th place finish in 2015.