Youth Leads The Way For BGSU At Mel Brodt Invitational

Friday, August 30

5:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Mel Brodt Collegiate Opener

August 30, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: By Kellan Godfrey, BGSU Athletic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams opened their respective seasons on Friday (Aug. 30) evening at the 32nd annual Mel Brodt Invitational. The men's team earned a second place team score, while the women's team earned a team score of third place.

PHOTO GALLERY

Men's 5k Event

The men's 5k event saw 43 participants in total from Bowling Green, Buffalo, Purdue Fort Wayne and Toledo. The Buffalo Bulls took the top spot in the race with a team score of 25, with the Falcons right behind them at second place with a team score of 57. Bowling Green's finish was enough to best Toledo who took third in team scoring at 61. Purdue Fort Wayne would come in fourth with a score of 67.

Individual Performances

Freshman AJ Haffa would lead the way for the Falcons finishing first for Bowling Green, and seventh overall in his first collegiate race. Haffa finished the 5k in with a time of 15:57.0.
Finishing second for the Falcons was fellow freshman Vince Manning, who captured ninth overall out of the field. Manning who was also competing in his first collegiate race finishing the 5k event with a time of 16:08.1.
Coming in third place for the Orange and Brown was sophomore Abel Nijakowski, finishing 11th overall traversing the BGXC Course in 16:17.4. Just short of his result from a season ago that saw him capture 10th place in in the men's 5k at 15:58.9.
Freshman Joseph Johnson III would come in fourth for the Falcons, finishing 19th overall with a time of 16:37.9. Redshirt junior Raymond Berling was close behind finishing fifth for BGSU and 23rd overall with a time of 16:46.9.

Post-Race Interview with Coach Juan Carrillo

MEN'S FULL RESULTS

Women's 5k Event

The women's 5k event saw 36 participants in total featuring Bowling Green, Buffalo, Purdue Fort Wayne and Toledo with a number of unattached runners. Buffalo would take the top spot in the women's race with a team score of 29, with Toledo getting second place at 32. Bowling Green would grab a third place finish earning a team score of 64. PFW would come in fourth place with a score of 102.

Individual Performances

In her first race with the Bowling Green Falcons, redshirt freshman Sydnie Firment would finish first for her squad earning 10th place overall. Firment crossed the finish line at 18:58.3.
Close behind Firment, in 13th place was redshirt junior Allison Holahan. She would finish second for the Falcons completing with a time of 19:05.7 earning a new personal best for a 5k race. She had previously ran the race in 19:22.3 at the 2017 Mel Brodt Invitational, that saw her finish 15th in the race.
Redshirt sophomores Allie Zofkie and Megan Aalberts would finish third and fourth for Bowling Green, taking places 19 and 20 respectively. Zofkie would improve on her personal best from last season's Mel Brodt trimming off nearly a full eight seconds as she completed the race with a time of 19:27.6. Last year she came in 23rd with a time of 19:35.5. Junior Claire Reynolds would finish fifth for the Falcons, coming in 26th overall at with a time of 19:58.2.
Bowling Green also had a number of participants running the race unattached including Sydney Neikamp, Olivia Collett, Kailee Perry, Elise Johnson, Libbie Gleason and Trinity Fowler.

Post-Race Interview with Head Coach Lou Snelling

WOMEN'S FULL RESULTS

Up Next
The Bowling Green State University men's and women's XC teams will compete in their next full respective team events at Michigan State University at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday, Sept. 13 at 11:00AM.

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'