Falcons Soar To Top Ten Finishes In The 2019 Spartan Invitational

Friday, September 13

East Lansing, MI

11:00 AM

Bowling Green State University

Spartan Invitational

Falcons Soar To Top Ten Finishes In The 2019 Spartan Invitational

September 13, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: By Kellan Godfrey, BGSU Athletic Communications

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams took to the Forest Akers East Golf Course at Michigan State University on Friday (Sept. 13) morning to compete in the 2019 Spartan Invitational. The women's team took fifth place in team scoring out of 26 teams. The men's team finished in the top ten with a team score of 9th out of 23 teams competing.

PHOTO GALLERY

Women's 6k Event

The women's 6k event saw 291 participants in total from 26 qualifying schools. The Falcons would finish with a team score of 199 earning them a solid fifth place in the field of 26. Bowling Green would best Western Michigan (eighth place) in the race while finishing just behind Ball State (fourth place). Michigan State took first place at their home event.

Individual Performances

In her first race of the 2019 season, sophomore Katerina Shuble would finish first for the Falcons at 29th place overall with a time of 22.42.2. Shuble showed improvement in all 6k events as the season progressed a year ago.
Sophomore Sydney Niekamp would finish second for BGSU in what was her first race of the 2019 season, and first race for the Falcons. She finished 33rd overall with a time of 22:47.7, setting a new personal best for her in a collegiate 6k. Her previous personal best in a 6k was 23:07.1 set with Akron a year ago.
Redshirt freshman Sydnie Firment finished third for Bowling Green placing 48th in the field with a time of 23:08.7. This was just her second race with BGSU and her first collegiate 6k event.
Close behind Firment was junior Sarah Hunsley who would finish fourth for Bowling Green. Hunsley finished 50th with a time of 23:10.9. It was her first race for BG of the 2019 season and her first 6k event since regionals last season.
Finishing fifth for the Falcons was redshirt sophomore Megan Aalberts. She came in 84th place with a time of 23:56.9. This was her second race of the 2019 season, as she came in fourth for BGSU in the Mel Brodt Invitational to begin the year. This was her first 6k of the year.

Coach Lou Snelling's Take

"Generally a solid day for us, definitely a step in the right direction. Katerina Shuble and Sarah Hunsley both opened up their seasons today, I think they both had great days….I can see the connection to their goals down the road. (Sydney Niekamp and Sydnie Firment) both very solid for us putting themselves in the race the whole time, and really pushing the group in different ways at different moments. I was really happy with our group."
Positives to build on, "It's going to be interesting to see as we fold more of the team in…what we look like from a depth perspective going forward."

FULL WOMEN'S FULL RESULTS

Men's 8k Event

The men's 8k event saw 326 participants in total battle through a few rain drops to finish the race for 23 qualifying schools. The Orange and Brown took 9th place with a team score of 225, while fellow Great Lakes regional competitor MSU took first on their home XC course.

Individual Performances

Leading the way for Bowling Green in the men's 8k was junior Kyle Hibinger coming in 24th overall with a time of 25:43.1. This was his first race of the 2019 season, and his first 8k since the MAC Championships last season.
Coming in second place for BGSU was Falcon senior Jonathan Voth. He would finish 49th overall with a time of 26:10.0. It was also his first race of the 2019 season. His personal best in an 8k event was in the Louisville XC Classic, which is the next event on the schedule for the Falcons.
Sophomore Cesar Arellano came in third for Bowling Green at 64th overall. He would finish with a time of 26:33.4 in both his first 8k and race of the 2019 season.
Coming in fourth place for BGSU was freshman AJ Haffa. This was the first 8k of his collegiate career as he finished 79th overall with a time of 26:46.7.
Other competitors for Bowling Green included Abel Nijakowski, Vince Manning and Joseph Johnson III who would finish fifth, sixth and seventh for the Falcons respectively. Freshmen Manning and Johnson would complete their first collegiate 8k event.

Coach Juan Carrillo's Take
"It was not what we expected. We finished ninth while we expected to finish in the top five, top four. This was the first 8k event of the season, so it's a great opportunity to learn. I just have to go back and talk to each one of them to see where we can improve for the next one…We just have to do a better job at the start of the race. When the gun goes off, lets try to keep a group of three to five guys together…just committing to staying together."

MEN'S FULL RESULTS

Up Next
The Bowling Green State University men's and women's XC teams will compete in their next respective team events at the Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday, October 5. It will be the third team event of the 2019 season for both BGXC teams.

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'