Crunch Time: Falcons Head To Michigan For Big Weekend

Friday, February 10

Allendale, Mich.

TBA

Bowling Green State University

GVSU Big Meet

February 09, 2017 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Performance List
Live Results

Bowling Green, Ohio – With just two weeks until the Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the BGSU Track and Field Team faces an important weekend at the GVSU Big Meet. Hosted by Grand Valley State University, the Falcons will compete Friday, beginning with running events at 10:20 am.

THE GVSU BIG MEET
The GVSU Big Meet takes place Friday and Saturday, hosted by Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich. BGSU will take part in only Friday action at the meet. The entire schedule of events for Friday is listed below.

THROWS (1 PM - ROLLING SCHEDULE)
Open weight throw (Kaila Butler, Aliyah Gustafson)
Open shot put (BeJai Fray)
Invite weight throw (Kayla Velasquez, Elizabeth Iversen)
Invite shot put (Elizabeth Iversen, Makenzie Wheat, Aliyah Gustafson)

JUMPS
12:30 pm – Long jump (Chasatea Brown, BeJai Fray, Raven Porter)
4:45 pm – Invite high jump (Raven Porter)

RUNNING EVENTS
10:20 am – 5000, section 5 (Kelsie Mothersead)
11:05 am – 5000, section 4 (Jody Musser)
12:45 pm – 60 hurdles semifinals (BeJai Fray, Chasatea Brown)
1:15 pm – 60 semifinals (Cortisha Short)
1:45 pm – 600 (Camerone Bryant, Rachel Stute, Paige Geatz)
3:05 pm – 60 hurdles finals
3:15 pm – 60 finals
3:20 pm – 400 (Taylor Rambo, Gabrielle Edwards, Camerone Bryant, Brianna Johnson, Rachel Stute, Brianna Tidmore)
4:05 pm – Mile (Rachel Durbin, Allison Holahan)
4:55 pm – 5000, section 1 (Elena Lancioni)
6:10 pm – 200 (Cortisha Short, Brianna Johnson)
6:50 pm – 3000 (Becca Rae, Rachel Walny, Rebecca Schott)
7:40 pm – 1600 relay (Gabrielle Edwards, Taylor Rambo, Brianna Tidmore, Chasatea Brown)

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

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
"It doesn't matter from season to season, two weeks before MAC is always a big weekend. We've done a lot of good things to this point, but we still need to take a few more steps. It would be nice to get a few more MAC autos and generally move up the lists. We have a few people who need to secure their place at MAC." – Lou Snelling, Head Coach

GUSTAFSON THE NEW SHOT PUT QUEEN; WHEAT STILL PUSHING
Aliyah Gustafson has been dominating the shot put since returning from a knee injury a year ago, winning the event at the MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. At the Tom Wright Classic, she set another milestone, breaking the indoor school record in the event with a throw of 52-feet-10. In fact, the two most recent school record holders in the shot put are still active in the program. Senior Makenzie Wheat was the previous school record holder when she threw 52-1 back in 2015. Prior to that, the school record had stood for 21 years since Nikki Lessig threw 51-4.5 in 1994.

Gustafson holds the outdoor shot put school record at 53-0.75, breaking a mark last year that had stood for 11 years. Kerri McClung was the previous record holder at 52-8.25 in 2005.

Gustafson and Wheat hold all of the top five indoor shot put performances in program history and they have combined for seven of the top 10 outdoor performances in BGSU history.

BGSU IN THE MAC RANKINGS
Bowling Green holds three of the top seven spots in the league in both throws events. In the shot put, defending outdoor MAC champion Aliyah Gustafson ranks third, while Elizabeth Iversen is fifth and Makenzie Wheat sixth.

In the weight throw, Iversen is second, while Kayla Velasquez is third following a big weekend at Akron and Gustafson seventh.

Dorresha Green ranks second in the MAC in the 60 after posting an automatic qualifying time of 7.50 seconds at Kent State's Golden Flash Gala in December.

60 – 2. Dorresha Green 7.50 (AQ), 13. Kyla Paster 7.67
200 – 9. Cortisha Short 24.82
400 – 5. Taylor Rambo 55.84
5000 – 5. Rachel Walny 16:46.27 (AQ), 16. Becca Rae 17:26.52, 17. Rebecca Schott 17:26.76
1600 relay – 7. Bowling Green 3:50.03
High jump – 13. Raven Porter 5-5 (1.65m)
Long jump – t12. Raven Porter 18-4.25 (5.59m), t12. Kyla Paster 18-4.25 (5.59m), 17. BeJai Fray 18-2.5 (5.55m)
Triple jump – t7. Kyla Paster 38-9.75 (11.83m) (AQ)
Shot put – 3. Aliyah Gustafson 52-10 (16.10m) (AQ), 5. Elizabeth Iversen 50-0 (15.24m) (AQ), 6. Makenzie Wheat 49-11.75 (15.23m) (AQ)
Weight throw – 2. Elizabeth Iversen 62-4 (19.00m) (AQ), 3. Kayla Velasquez 61-2.25 (18.65m) (AQ), 7. Aliyah Gustafson 58-3 (17.75m), 12. Kaila Butler 55-10.25 (17.02m)
Pentathlon – 8. Chasatea Brown 3,285

c – converted times

BGSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Aliyah Gustafson currently ranks 24th nationally in the shot put. The top 16 will advance to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships March 10-11 in College Station, Texas. Listed below are the Falcons ranked among the top 100 nationally in an event.

5000 – 35. Rachel Walny 16:46.27
Shot put – 24. Aliyah Gustafson 52-10 (16.10m), 52. Elizabeth Iversen 50-0 (15.24m), 53. Makenzie Wheat 49-11.75 (15.23m)
Weight throw – 56. Elizabeth Iversen 62-4 (19.00m), 73. Kayla Velasquez 61-2.25 (18.65m)