Two Earn New Personal Bests As Falcons Compete In Great Lakes Regional Championships

Friday, November 15

Madison, WI

12:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Two Earn New Personal Bests As Falcons Compete In Great Lakes Regional Championships

November 15, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: By Kellan Godfrey, BGSU Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wis. – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams took to the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course at the University of Wisconsin on Friday (Nov. 15) afternoon for the 2019 NCAA Great Lakes Regional championships. The BGSU women's team took 26^th place overall in team scoring, while the men's team earned a 21^st place finish in team scoring.

Women's 6k Event
The Women's 6k event saw 215 total competitors representing 31 teams from all across the very competitive Great Lakes Region. The Falcons earned a team score of 671 securing a 26^th place finish in the field. BGSU was joined in the race by seven other MAC schools.

Individual Performances

Coming in first for the Bowling Green Falcons in the women's 6k event was sophomore Syndey Niekamp finishing 91^st overall with a time of 22:12.2. This was her fifth race of the 2019 season, and her second time finishing first for Bowling Green. She also ran her second best time in a 6k race. This was Niekamp's first regionals race with BGSU.
Coming in second for BGSU in team scoring was Katerina Shuble finishing 134^th overall with a time of 22:49.7. The sophomore completed her fifth race of the season for the Falcons, and represented Bowling Green at regionals for the second year in row.
Sarah Hunsley came in third place for BGSU in team scoring finishing 148^th overall. Her finishing time was 23:07.1. This was her fourth race of the season and the third time racing at regionals for the junior.
Not far behind Hunsley was Allison Holahan. She finished fourth for Bowling Green in team scoring with a 150^th place finish overall. Her finishing time was 23:11.8. The redshirt junior improved upon her time from last year's regional championships in Terre Haute, Indiana (23:42.6). This was Allison Holahan's second regionals race for BGSU.
Coming in fifth place in team scoring was redshirt sophomore Megan Aalberts finishing 156^th overall in 23:23.6. This was her second time competing at regionals for BGSU, and her sixth race of the season.
Also in the field for Bowling Green was redshirt freshman Sydnie Firement coming in 180^th place in 24:09.6. This was her first time competing at regionals. Redshirt sophomore Allie Zofkie was close behind her coming in 186^th place in 24:32.4. This was her second regionals appearance for BGSU.

FULL WOMEN'S RESULTS

Men's 10k Event
The Men's 10k event saw 201 total runners in total representing 29 schools in the powerful Great Lakes Region. Bowling Green finished with a team score of 560 securing them a 21^st place finish in the field. BGSU was joined by six other MAC schools in the region for the 10k race.

Individual Performances

Coming in first in team scoring for the Orange and Brown in the men's 10k race was junior Kyle Hibinger finishing 57^th overall with a time of 31:52.7. He earned a new personal best for a 10k race improving on his time from regionals a year ago (32:43.9 in Terre Haute, Indiana). This was his fifth race of the season, and his third time this year finishing first for BGSU in team scoring.
Junior Gabe Garbarino finished second for BGSU in team scoring at 97^th place overall. His finishing time was 32:39.5. He also earned a new personal best for a 10k race topping his time from regionals in 2017 on LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, IN by a minute (33:39.3).
Freshman AJ Haffa finished third in team scoring for the Falcons in his first NCAA Regionals race at 116^th overall with a time of 32:58.8. This is his sixth race of the season and his first 10k race representing Bowling Green.
Coming in fourth for the Falcons in team scoring was sophomore Cesar Arellano finishing the race 130^th overall with a time of 33:14.6. This was his fifth race of the season for Bowling Green.
Freshman Vince Manning finished fifth for the Falcons in team scoring and 168^th overall with a time of 34:40.8. This was his first NCAA regionals race for Bowling Green, and his first collegiate 10k race.
Also competing in the field for BGSU was Joseph Johnson III finishing 175^th with a time of 34:54.0. This was also his first 10k regional race for the Orange and Brown.

Coach Juan Carrillo's Take
"I think individually we competed better than two weeks ago at the MAC championship. Kyle Hibinger ran a huge personal best of 31:52 which is a lot better than his regional race a year ago. Gabe Garbarino and AJ Haffa showed improvement as well. As a team it hurt us not having our No. 3 runner race today due to injury. Also, our No. 1 runner did not have his best race which played a big impact in our final scoring. This year has been up and down and we are growing and learning in the process. We are going to use this year as a learning experience and continue building this program to the top of the MAC again."

FULL MEN'S RESULTS

Follow The Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons cross country teams throughout the season on social media.
Twitter – @BGAthletics and @BG_XCTrack
Instagram – 'bgfalcons' and 'bg_xctrack'
Facebook – 'BGSU Athletics'
YouTube – 'Falcon Athletics'