BGSU Cross Country Travels To East Lansing For 2019 Spartan Invite

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams are in preparation to continue their respective seasons this Friday (Sept. 13). They will be traveling to East Lansing, Michigan to take the course at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University.

Spartan Invitational
The 2019 Spartan Invite will take place this Friday, Sept. 13 with the women kicking off the event in a 6K race slated to start at 11:00 a.m. The men's 8k race will follow, set to begin at 11:30 a.m. Both races will be held at Forest Akers East Golf Course, located on the south end of campus. The last time the BGSU XC programs competed in the Spartan Invitational was in September of the 2017 season. For more information on the meet click HERE.

Scouting The Field
Both events will feature 30 schools competing, with Bowling Green and Michigan State representing the Great Lakes Region in the meet. The Mid-American Conference will be represented by BGSU, Ball State and Western Michigan. The reigning DII national champions in men's and women's XC Grand Valley State University will also be in attendance.

Notable Quotes
"Our big goals are still focused on the basics," Head Coach Lou Snelling said on the women's team. "It's our first or second meet depending on the athlete, so we're still talking about our process. In terms of our routines in the races themselves, we're working on our pacing, our focus, comfort level, all of those things." It will be the second race of the season for the majority of the women's team, as Allison Holahan was the lone competitor for the Falcons at the NIU Huskie Challenge last week.

"For the men it's the first 8k of the year. It's a jump from 5k to 8k so we need to be mentally and physically ready for that step," Coach Juan Carrillo said on the men's team. "I think that we can go there and be in the top five. If we can do that, it will be good practice for us for the championship season." With the size of this meet, Coach Carrillo emphasized how important committing to a fast start is to end of race positioning.

Last Time Out
Allison Holahan of the women's cross country team competed in the NIU Huskie Challenge last Friday (Sept. 6) evening. The redshirt junior from Gahanna, Ohio finished 21st of 92 runners in the women's 6k event, with a time of 23:31.5. It was her first time competing in the NIU Huskie Challenge, and her second race of the 2019 season. Prior to last week, the last full team meet for both BGXC teams was the Mel Brodt Invitational on Aug. 30. The men's 5k event saw the Falcons finish in second place with a team score of 57, with AJ Haffa, Vince Manning, Abel Nijakowski, Joseph Johnson III and Raymond Berling finishing top five for BGSU. Bowling Green would grab a third place finish in the women's 5k event earning a team score of 64. Sydnie Firment, Allison Holahan, Allie Zofkie, Megan Aalberts and Claire Reynolds would finish top five for the Orange and Brown.

Follow The Falcons
Be sure to follow the Bowling Green Falcon 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'

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