Friday, March 8
Birmingham, Ala.
6:15 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
NCAA Indoor National Championships
Aliyah Gustafson To Compete For National Championship Friday
March 06, 2019 | Women's Track and Field
Birmingham, Ala. – Seeded fifth in the country, redshirt senior Aliyah Gustafson will compete for a national championship in the shot put Friday evening at Birmingham CrossPlex. Gustafson is making her fourth appearance at an NCAA National Championship meet.
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Gustafson competes in the shot put Friday, beginning at 6:15 pm ET. A year ago, she placed tenth at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in the shot put and has placed 24th and 15th at the outdoor championships.
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Prior to Gustafson's appearance at the national championships last year, no Falcon had competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships since Stephanie Heldt competed in the high jump in 2001. The Falcons have not scored at the meet (top eight finish) since Huina Han finished fourth in the triple jump in 1998. Nikki Lessig is the only other BGSU student-athlete in program history to qualify in back-to-back seasons, doing so in 1994 (shot put, discus) and 1995 (shot put). She placed seventh in the shot put in each of those years.
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Just 16 student-athletes qualify for the indoor national championships in the shot put and Gustafson's season-best mark of 17.50m places her fifth in the country. The only Mid-American Conference competitor in the field of 16, she will face competition from top seed Sade Olatoye (Ohio State / 17.88m), Samantha Noennig (Arizona State / 17.81m), Laulauga Tausaga (Iowa / 17.79m), Alyssa Wilson (UCLA / 17.73m), Kiley Sabin (Minnesota / 17.47m) and Khayla Dawson (Indiana / 17.42m).
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Sabin is the top returner from a year ago, when she placed fifth overall. Others who finished in the top 10 a year ago who return for this year's championship include sixth-place finisher Lena Giger (Stanford), seventh-place finisher Ashlie Blake (UCLA) and Gustafson. In total, eight of the field of 16 competed a year ago.
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All 16 competitors will throw in one flight and Gustafson will throw ninth. After three throws, the top nine will advance to finals with three more throws immediately following.
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ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 6:30 pm ET Friday and at 5:00 pm ET Saturday. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 10:00 pm ET Sunday on ESPN2 and again Monday at 10:00 pm ET on ESPNU.
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Gustafson won both the shot put and the weight throw at the MAC Championships this year. She was named the MAC Most Outstanding Field Performer at the championship and is BGSU's school-record holder in the shot put during both indoor and outdoor seasons. She has won a program-record five individual MAC championships.
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ESPN3 Broadcast
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Gustafson competes in the shot put Friday, beginning at 6:15 pm ET. A year ago, she placed tenth at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in the shot put and has placed 24th and 15th at the outdoor championships.
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Prior to Gustafson's appearance at the national championships last year, no Falcon had competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships since Stephanie Heldt competed in the high jump in 2001. The Falcons have not scored at the meet (top eight finish) since Huina Han finished fourth in the triple jump in 1998. Nikki Lessig is the only other BGSU student-athlete in program history to qualify in back-to-back seasons, doing so in 1994 (shot put, discus) and 1995 (shot put). She placed seventh in the shot put in each of those years.
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Good luck to Aliyah Gustafson as she heads to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Nationals Championships to compete in the shot put Friday at 6:15 pm ET. Thank you to everyone who came out to see Aliyah off! #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/WyrlDRDYXR
— BGSU XC/Track (@BG_XCTrack) March 5, 2019
Just 16 student-athletes qualify for the indoor national championships in the shot put and Gustafson's season-best mark of 17.50m places her fifth in the country. The only Mid-American Conference competitor in the field of 16, she will face competition from top seed Sade Olatoye (Ohio State / 17.88m), Samantha Noennig (Arizona State / 17.81m), Laulauga Tausaga (Iowa / 17.79m), Alyssa Wilson (UCLA / 17.73m), Kiley Sabin (Minnesota / 17.47m) and Khayla Dawson (Indiana / 17.42m).
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Sabin is the top returner from a year ago, when she placed fifth overall. Others who finished in the top 10 a year ago who return for this year's championship include sixth-place finisher Lena Giger (Stanford), seventh-place finisher Ashlie Blake (UCLA) and Gustafson. In total, eight of the field of 16 competed a year ago.
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All 16 competitors will throw in one flight and Gustafson will throw ninth. After three throws, the top nine will advance to finals with three more throws immediately following.
Â
ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 6:30 pm ET Friday and at 5:00 pm ET Saturday. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 10:00 pm ET Sunday on ESPN2 and again Monday at 10:00 pm ET on ESPNU.
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Gustafson won both the shot put and the weight throw at the MAC Championships this year. She was named the MAC Most Outstanding Field Performer at the championship and is BGSU's school-record holder in the shot put during both indoor and outdoor seasons. She has won a program-record five individual MAC championships.
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