Falcons Set To Make Mark At MAC Championships

Thursday, May 9

Muncie, Ind.

9:00 AM

Bowling Green State University

MAC Outdoor Championships

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

May 08, 2019 | Women's Track and Field

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

Muncie, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University track and field team will travel to Ball State to compete in the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday through Saturday. The Falcons have the top seed in both the hammer throw and the shot put and will look to improve upon a seventh-place finish a year ago.

MAC CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE
LIVE RESULTS
LIVE VIDEO

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

MAC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
9:00 am - Hammer throw (1. Kaila Butler, 4. Aliyah Gustafson, 6. Allie Farmer)
2:45 pm – 1500 trials (18. Allison Holahan)
3:05 pm – 400 hurdles trials (6. Chasatea Brown)
3:40 pm – 200 trials (11. Ryen Draper)
4:15 pm – 10,000 (Rachel Walny)

FRIDAY
3:30 pm – Shot put (1. Aliyah Gustafson, 4. Zaresha Neal, 10. Ebonie Whitted)
5:00 pm – Long jump (18. Brianna Richard)
5:25 pm – 400 trials (11. Ryen Draper, 12. Jazzlynn Gaiters, 13. Iyanna Ross)
6:45 pm – 800 trials (11. Katerina Shuble)
7:25 pm – 3000 steeplechase (19. Kelsie Mothersead)

SATURDAY
11:00 am – Triple jump (8. Ayanna Burrell, 11. Brianna Richard)
1:00 pm – 400 relay (4. Bowling Green)
1:25 pm – 1500 (18. Allison Holahan)
2:10 pm – 400 (11. Ryen Draper, 12. Jazzlynn Gaiters, 13. Iyanna Ross)
2:30 pm – Discus (3. Zaresha Neal, 6. Aliyah Gustafson, 8. Daija Young)
2:50 pm – 800 (11. Katerina Shuble)
3:15 pm – 400 hurdles (6. Chasatea Brown)
3:45 pm – 200 (11. Ryen Draper)
4:05 pm – 5,000 (9. Rachel Walny)
4:45 pm – 1600 relay (10. Bowling Green)

YOUTH LEADS THE WAY
Bowling Green will send a decidedly young and talented team to the MAC Championships. Of the 22 qualifications in individual events (non-relays), nine will come from freshmen and another four are sophomores. Only two seniors will compete in individual events at the meet – Aliyah Gustafson and Rachel Walny.

MAC AUTO BIDS
Bowling Green qualified 11 teams with automatic bids to the MAC Championships by virtue of hitting a qualifying mark. Aliyah Gustafson did so in three events – the shot put, discus and hammer throw. Zaresha Neal automatically qualified in both shot put and discus. Chasatea Brown (400 hurdles), Ayanna Burrell (triple jump), Daija Young (discus), Kaila Butler (hammer throw) and Allie Farmer (hammer throw) also earned automatic bids.

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. 11 in the hammer throw and No. 13 in the discus. BGSU is one of only three 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. 11 in the discus, while Abilene Christian is fourth in both shot put and discus and 13^th in the hammer). Extending even further, only one other school – Memphis – ranks among the top 20 nationally in all three events.

NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS
Bowling Green is currently ranked No. 65 in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Rating Index (TFRI). BGSU's highest in-season rank ever 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.

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:

Shot put – 3. Aliyah Gustafson 56-7.5 (17.26m), 32. Zaresha Neal 51-7 (15.72m)
Discus – 25. Zaresha Neal 171-4 (52.23m), 39. Aliyah Gustafson 164-6 (50.14m)
Hammer throw – 6. Kaila Butler 213-0 (64.92m), 38. Aliyah Gustafson 197-0 (60.06m)

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 13th nationally. She is more than six 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.

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.

FROM HEAD COACH LOU SNELLING

"We talked about the possibility for us to go out and break some new ground from a points perspective and from a place perspective. The middle is very dense with schools. The difference between a fifth-place school and a tenth-place school could be just a couple of points. But we feel good about the opportunities out there for us if we can focus on the things we need to focus on. As a team, we want to end the season on a positive note after an indoor championship that was a bit rocky for us."
"There's a lot of experience in the throws group, particularly with Aliyah. It's hard to be any more experienced than she is at this point. So it gives you comfort."