Falcons To Close Regular Season At Hillsdale And Louisville

Hillsdale, Mich. and Louisville, Ky. – The Bowling Green State University track and field team will compete at both Hillsdale's Gina Relays and Louisville's Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational. The Gina Relays begin Thursday and run through Saturday, while the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational is Friday and Saturday.

GINA RELAYS LIVE RESULTS
GINA RELAYS LIVE VIDEO
LENNY LYLES/CLARK WOOD LIVE RESULTS

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

HILLSDALE GINA RELAYS SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
7:00 pm – 5000 open (Claire Reynolds)

FRIDAY
12:30 pm – 1500 open (Allison Holahan)
3:40 pm – 800 open (Katerina Shuble)
7:15 pm – 3000 steeple chase championship (Kelsie Mothersead)
8:40 pm – 5000 championship (Rachel Walny)

SATURDAY
10:00 am – Discus open (Katelyn King, Andrea Weirauch)
1:00 pm – Javelin open (Katelyn King, Andrea Weirauch)

LENNY LYLES/CLARK WOOD INVITATIONAL
FRIDAY
2:00 pm – Unseeded Hammer throw (Kaila Butler, Allie Farmer, Aliyah Gustafson)
4:00 pm – Seeded Hammer throw (Kaila Butler, Allie Farmer, Aliyah Gustafson)
4:00 pm – Long jump (Ayanna Burrell, Brianna Richard)
4:30 pm - 100 hurdle prelims (Chasatea Brown)
4:30 pm – Unseeded Shot put (Aliyah Gustafson, Ebonie Whitted, Zaresha Neal, Daija Young)
5:30 pm – 100 prelims (Savannah Nevels)

SATURDAY
12:00 pm – Unseeded discus (Aliyah Gustafson, Zaresha Neal, Daija Young)
12:45 pm - 400 relay (BGSU)
1:00 pm - Triple jump (Ayanna Burrell, Brianna Richard)
2:00 pm - 100 hurdle finals (Chasatea Brown)
2:00 pm – Seeded Shot put (Aliyah Gustafson, Ebonie Whitted, Zaresha Neal, Daija Young)
2:10 pm - 400 (Ryen Draper, Mis'cha Sellers, Jazzlynn Gaiters, Iyanna Ross)
2:40 pm – 100 finals (Savannah Nevels)
3:30 pm - 400 hurdles (Chasatea Brown)
4:00 pm - 200 (Ryen Draper)
4:00 pm – Seeded discus (Aliyah Gustafson, Zaresha Neal, Daija Young)
4:50 pm - 1600 relay (BGSU)

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS
Bowling Green is currently ranked No. 60 in the 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.

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. 6 in the shot put, No. 10 in the hammer throw and No. 14 in the discus. BGSU is one of only two programs in the country to rank among the top 15 nationally in all three of those events (North Dakota State is No. 1 in shot put and hammer, and No. 10 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 – 17. Savannah Nevels 12.05
200 – 14. Savannah Nevels 24.52, 15. Ryen Draper 24.53
400 – 11. Ryen Draper 55.84, 14. Jazzlynn Gaiters 56.18, 15. Iyanna Ross 56.22, 17. Chasatea Brown 56.62
800 – 14. Katerina Shuble 2:15.80
400 hurdles – 5. Chasatea Brown 60.89
3000 steeplechase – 19. Kelsie Mothersead 11:51.49
Triple jump – 7. Ayanna Burrell 39-4.5 (12.00m), 12. Brianna Richard 38-4 (11.68m)
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Gustafson 56-7.5 (17.26m), 4. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m), 11. Ebonie Whitted 46-6.75 (14.19m), 15. Daija Young 44-1.5 (13.45m)
Discus – 2. Zaresha Neal 171-4 (52.23m), 6. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m), 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 – 18. Andrea Weirauch 106-7 (32.48m)

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

400 hurdles – 5. Chasatea Brown 60.89
Triple jump – 7. Ayanna Burrell 39-4.5 (12.00m)
Shot put – 1. Aliyah Gustafson 52-10.75 (16.12m), 4. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m)
Discus – 2. Zaresha Neal 171-4 (52.23m), 6. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m), 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 – 50. Chasatea Brown 60.89
Shot put – 2. Aliyah Gustafson 53-1.75 (16.20m), 31. Zaresha Neal 50-10.25 (15.50m)
Discus – 22. Zaresha Neal 171-4 (52.23m), 34. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m)
Hammer throw – 5. Kaila Butler 213-0 (64.92m), 50. 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 12th 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.

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Players Mentioned

Chasatea Brown

Ayanna Burrell

Kaila Butler

Ryen Draper

Allie Farmer

Jazzlynn Gaiters

Aliyah Gustafson

Allison Holahan

Katelyn King

Kelsie Mothersead

Zaresha Neal

Savannah Nevels

Claire Reynolds

Brianna Richard

Iyanna Ross

Mis'cha Sellers

Katerina Shuble

Rachel Walny

Andrea Weirauch

Ebonie Whitted

Daija Young

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