Gustafson's Record-Breaking Effort Leads Falcons Against Toledo

Thursday, April 5

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Toledo

April 05, 2018 | Women's Track and Field

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

Photo Gallery (Coming Soon)

Bowling Green, Ohio – After last year's Battle Of I-75 track and field meet came down to the final event and ended in a 100-99 Toledo victory over Bowling Green, it didn't appear that the meet could get any closer. But the two teams proved that it definitely could Thursday afternoon at Whittaker Track. For the second straight year, the meet came down to the final competition, but this time it ended in a 96-96 tie. Toledo won the 1600 relay by less than three seconds to keep the Falcons from earning their fifth victory over the Rockets in the last six meetings.

Bowling Green was led by All-American Aliyah Gustafson, who won three events, set three personal bests, surpassed three Mid-American Conference automatic qualifying marks and broke a school record. Along with Elizabeth Iversen, who placed second in each of those three events that Gustafson won, the Falcons dominated the throws.

SENIOR DAY

Bowling Green recognized 11 seniors among the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams following the conclusion of the meet.
Among the women recognized were Rachel Durbin, BeJai Fray, Dorresha Green, Aliyah Gustafson, Elizabeth Iversen, Elena Lancioni, Kyla Paster and Cortisha Short.
Jacob Schenten, Kohl Taberner and Nick Voth were recognized from the men's cross country team.

GUSTAFSON WINS THREE

Aliyah Gustafson won the shot put, discus and hammer throw, setting a new personal best in each event.
Gustafson broke her own school record in the shot put, throwing 54-feet-2.5, a mark that is almost four feet further than anyone else in the MAC this year. She currently ranks fifth in the East region after the meet.
Gustafson posted the second-best performance in school history in the discus, throwing 172-0. That mark ranks second in the MAC this year and 15^th in the East region.
She rounded out the meet by winning the hammer throw with a personal best 183-6. It's the best mark in the MAC this year by almost six feet.

IVERSEN ALSO HAS A BIG DAY

While Elizabeth Iversen finished second to Aliyah Gustafson in all three throws, she had a big day of her own.
Iversen reached a MAC automatic qualifying mark in the discus, throwing 164-11. That distance is fourth in the conference this year.
Iversen's hammer throw performance of 177-11 ranks her second in the conference this year, behind only Gustafson.

NOT JUST A TWO-WOMAN SHOW

BGSU had a handful of other personal bests in the throws as well.
Redshirt freshman Daija Young surpassed the marks she posted in her first collegiate meet a week ago in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.
Junior Andrea Weirauch also set a personal best in the discus.

TWO MORE MAKE THEIR MARK

Two other Falcons established performances that rank among the top 10 in school history.
Kyla Paster surpassed the MAC automatic qualifying mark in the triple jump, winning the event with a personal best distance of 39-feet-1. That mark puts her third in school history and is the eighth-best single-meet performance in program history.
Freshman Jessi Lindstrom ran the 2000 steeplechase in 7:19.37 to move into fourth in school history in the non-traditional distance.

OTHER WINNERS

Bowling Green won eight events in total, including Aliyah Gustafson's three victories and Kyla Paster's triple jump win.
Senior BeJai Fray won the 100 hurdles in 15.95 seconds.
Senior Cortisha Short picked up a victory in the 200 in 24.98 seconds.
Freshman Rickia White paced three Falcons' at the top of the standings in the 400 with a time of 59.76 seconds.
The 400 relay team of Chasatea Brown, Ryen Draper, Paster and Short ran 47.26 seconds to capture the event victory.

COACH LOU SNELLING'S THOUGHTS

"It's better than a loss, better than last year. We had a ton of highlights. From that perspective, we're pretty happy. We have some moderate meets next weekend and then we end the season on some pretty big meets. We are going to relax tomorrow and get refocused for the rest of the year."

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