Falcons To Get MAC Preview This Weekend At Ball State

Saturday, April 13

Muncie, Ind.

Bowling Green State University

Ball State Challenge

April 11, 2019 | Women's Track and Field

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

Muncie, Ind. – Bowling Green heads to the site of the upcoming Mid-American Conference Championships to compete at the Ball State Challenge Friday and Saturday. The meet will provide an opportunity for the team to compete on the same track they will race on for the league championship. The Falcons will open competition with the hammer throw Friday at 11:00 am and return to action Saturday with the javelin at 10:00 am.

BALL STATE CHALLENGE INFORMATION
LIVE RESULTS
BGSU PERFORMANCE LIST

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
The BGSU track and field team can be followed all 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

BALL STATE CHALLENGE
FRIDAY
11:00 am – Hammer throw, following me (Katelyn King, Kaila Butler, Allie Farmer, Ebonie Whitted, Zaresha Neal)
3:00 pm – Discus, following men (Katelyn King, Zaresha Neal, Andrea Weirauch, Daija Young)

SATURDAY
10:00 am – Javelin, following men (Andrea Weirauch)
12:00 pm – Long jump (Brianna Richard)
1:00 pm – Shot put, following men (Zaresha Neal, Ebonie Whitted, Daija Young)
1:00 pm – Triple jump, following long jump (Brianna Richard, Ayanna Burrell)
2:05 pm – 400 (Iyanna Ross)
2:25 pm – 100 (Mis'cha Sellers)
3:45 pm – 400 hurdles (Chasatea Brown)
4:15 pm – 200 (Iyanna Ross, Jazzlynn Gaiters, Mis'cha Sellers)
4:50 pm – 3,000 steeplechase (Kelsie Mothersead)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS
Bowling Green is currently ranked No. 51 in the second regular season NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Rating Index (TFRI). BGSU's highest in-season rank was No. 45 late in the 2015 season and the Falcons' highest end-of-year ranking was No. 35 at the conclusion of that year. In the Great Lakes Region, the Falcons rank No. 16 of 33 teams and are fourth among MAC schools.

THROWS AMONG THE BEST NATIONALLY
The weekly event squad rankings take each team's top four performers in an event and rank them against every other school's top four performers. The Falcon throws unit is once again ranked among the best in the country, currently sitting No. 8 in both shot put and hammer throw, as well as No. 11 in the discus.

MAC LEADERS
In most events, the top 20 student-athletes in the conference will compete at the MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Listed below are all BGSU student-athletes currently ranked among that top 20:

100 – 11. Ryen Draper 12.05, 19. Ryen Draper 12.24
200 – 6. Savannah Nevels 24.52, 7. Ryen Draper 24.53, 19. Iyanna Ross 24.94
400 – 8. Ryen Draper 55.84, 11. Jazzlynn Gaiters 56.18, 12. Iyanna Ross 56.22, 14. Chasatea Brown 56.62
800 – 17. Katerina Shuble 2:17.90
1500 – 13. Katerina Shuble 4:39.04
400 hurdles – 3. Chasatea Brown 60.89
3000 steeplechase – 15. Kelsie Mothersead 12:06.24
Triple jump – 8. Brianna Richard 38-4 (11.68m), 10. Ayanna Burrell 37-9.25 (11.51m)
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Gustafson 53-1.75 (16.20m), 3. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m), 10. Ebonie Whitted 46-6.75 (14.19m), 15. Daija Young 44-1.5 (13.45m)
Discus – 3. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m), 6. Zaresha Neal 158-5 (48.29m), 8. Daija Young 157-4 (47.97m)
Hammer throw – 1. Kaila Butler 213-0 (64.92m), 4. Aliyah Gustafson 191-9 (58.46m), 6. Allie Farmer 181-9 (55.41m)
Javelin – 16. Andrea Weirauch 106-7 (32.48m)

MAC AUTO BIDS
The Falcons have clinched nine automatic bids to the MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, eight of those in the throws. Those auto bids are listed below:

400 hurdles – 3. Chasatea Brown 60.89
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Gustafson 52-10.75 (16.12m), 3. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m)
Discus – 3. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m), 6. Zaresha Neal 158-5 (48.29m), 8. Daija Young 157-4 (47.97m)
Hammer throw – 1. Kaila Butler 213-0 (64.92m), 4. Aliyah Gustafson 191-9 (58.46m), 6. Allie Farmer 181-9 (55.41m)

REGIONAL RANKINGS
In most events, the top 48 student-athletes in the region will advance to the NCAA East Region Preliminary. Listed below are the Falcons ranked among the top 50 in the region:

400 hurdles – 40. Chasatea Brown 60.89
Shot put – 9. Aliyah Gustafson 53-1.75 (16.20m), 23. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m)
Discus – 25. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m), 45. Zaresha Neal 158-5 (48.29m)
Hammer throw – 4. Kaila Butler 213-0 (64.92m), 44. Aliyah Gustafson 191-9 (58.46m)

THE BUTLER DID IT
Kaila Butler redshirted during the 2018 outdoor track & field season and it seems to have paid huge dividends for the sophomore in the hammer throw. As a true freshman in 2017, she made an immediate impact with a fourth-place finish at the MAC Championships and had a personal best distance of 189-feet-8.25 (57.81m).

But after the year off, Butler has gone from MAC championship contender to NCAA championship contender. In her first meet of 2019, she threw 204-6 (62.33m) but that was just getting started. She followed it up at NC State with a distance of 213-0 (64.92m) and currently ranks ninth nationally. She is more than 14 feet ahead of the second-best thrower in the MAC.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS

School record-holders Rachel Walny and Aliyah Gustafson return for their final outdoor seasons of their collegiate careers. Both are two-time All-Americans during outdoor season.
Walny is the school's all-time 10,000m record holder and has qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Championships twice. In fact, Walny holds all of the top six times in the event in program history.
Walny is also close to breaking the school record in the 5,000. Her career-best of 16:27.67 is third all-time and less than two seconds from breaking the program record.
Aliyah Gustafson is the program leader in the shot put and has also qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Championships twice. She also has the top six marks in program history in the event.
Gustafson ranks second in school history in two other events – the hammer throw and discus. Her career-best in discus of 171-feet-11 is four feet shy of the program record.

LOOKING BACK TO SEE AHEAD

Bowling Green tied for seventh at the 2018 MAC Championships with 58 points. The Falcons return members of the team who accounted for 42 of those points.
Redshirt senior Aliyah Gustafson accounted for 21 points by winning the shot put, placing third in discus and fourth in the hammer throw.
Redshirt senior Rachel Walny returns after a runner-up finish in the 10,000 and a seventh-place result in the 5,000.
Junior Chasatea Brown was the MAC runner-up in the 400 hurdles. She also paired up with sophomore Savannah Nevels as half of the 400 relay team that finished sixth.