Falcons Equal Best MAC Championship Result Since 1999 With Sparkling Day

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Akron, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University indoor track and field team equaled its best point total at a Mid-American Conference Championship event since 1999, finishing with 68 team points Friday and Saturday. The Falcons placed fifth in the overall team standings, scoring an identical team total as the program did in 2018. Prior to that, the Falcons had not reached that threshold since winning the MAC Championship in 1999.

FULL RESULTS

BGSU got to that total by placing athletes on the podium in seven of the eight events in which a Falcon represented Saturday. The Falcons closed with the most exhilarating performance of the day, a record-smashing MAC title in the 1600 relay. It was the first MAC title in the 1600 relay for the program since 1992, a span of 28 years.

Coach Lou Snelling talks about the weekend and his team's performance. pic.twitter.com/ydSG79tXl3
— BGSU XC/Track (@BG_XCTrack) February 29, 2020

TEAM RESULTS

Eastern Michigan narrowly edged Northern Illinois for the MAC Championship, scoring 104 points to the Huskies' 102.
Teams in third through seventh jockeyed back-and-forth throughout the weekend with Ball State coming away with 77 points. Akron was fourth with 72 and BGSU followed with 68. Toledo had 60.5 to beat Miami by just 0.5 point.
Central Michigan finished with 34 points, followed by Kent State with 33.5 and Buffalo with 24. Western Michigan and Ohio each scored 14 points.
BGSU's 68 points were double the team's 32 points from a year ago. Kaila Butler, who won the weight throw, is the only senior who scored points for the Falcons at the meet.

THE FASTEST FOUR MINUTES IN SPORTS

Bowling Green's 1600 relay team had been chasing the school record throughout the indoor season, entering the MAC Championships with a season-best time of 3:46.61, just shy of the school record time of 3:45.49.
The Falcons not only beat the school record, they obliterated it. The team of Ryen Draper, Savannah Nevels, Jazzlynn Gaiters and Iyanna Ross ran 3:41.47 to establish a time more than four seconds faster than any BG team had run before.
All of that came despite a heavy workload for the quartet. Draper ran in the 200 and 400 prelims and finals, while Nevels did the same in the 60 and 200. Iyanna Ross ran in the 400 finals and Gaiters had come off of a strong performance in the distance medley relay Friday, helping that relay team to a fourth-place finish.
Entering as the No. 3 seed, BGSU led for most of the first two legs of the relay. Gaiters kept the Falcons in second before handing off the baton to Ross. On the home stretch, Ross finally caught and passed the team from Northern Illinois.

ANOTHER SCHOOL RECORD IN THE 400

Sophomore Iyanna Ross and junior Ryen Draper have begun a friendly rivalry in the 400, trading the school record back-and-forth and giving the team the fastest 1-2 punch in the Mid-American Conference.
Ross entered the weekend with the school record in the 400, but Draper broke it in the prelims Friday. On Saturday, Ross took it back with a time of 54.44 seconds and a third place finish.
Draper, in her defense, ran the third-fastest 400 time in school history in the finals (behind her own time in the prelims and Ross' race in the lane next to her) at 54.66. Just 24 hours earlier, that time would have been the school record.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Redshirt freshman Katerina Shuble posted the second-fastest mile race in program history. She ran 4:50.36 to place fourth overall.
Another freshman, Kailee Perry, placed 11^th in the mile with a personal best 5:00.29. Shuble and Perry were the top two freshmen finishers in the mile.
Prior to her heroics in the 1600 relay, junior Savannah Nevels placed fourth in the 200 with a time of 24.35 seconds. It was the fifth-fastest 200 time in school history and makes her the third-fastest individual in program history.
Nevels also set a personal best time in the 60, finishing third in 7.57 seconds. That time ties her for the fifth-fastest female in school history in the event.
Along with her performance in the 400, Draper finished seventh in 200 at 24.79 seconds.
In the triple jump, BGSU placed two leapers in finals with Ayanna Burrell placing sixth and Brianna Richard seventh.
Burrell had a personal best distance of 38-feet-8 (12.09m) and ranks as the third-best in program history in the event.
Richard also set a personal best at 39-2.25 (11.94m) to move to seventh in school history in the triple jump.
Ebonie Whitted and Katie Seyfang also both earned podium spots in the shot put.
Whitted had a personal best distance of 49-feet-11.75 (15.23m) to place fifth. Seyfang finished at 49-5 (15.06m) to end sixth.

UP NEXT

Bowling Green will transition to the outdoor season beginning with Miami of Ohio's Blizzard Buster on March 20.
The Falcons will compete in the MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 14-16 at Western Michigan.

MAC INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

BGSU Results
60 – 3. Savannah Nevels 7.57
200 – 4. Savannah Nevels 24.35, 7. Ryen Draper 24.79
400 – 3. Iyanna Ross 54.44, 5. Ryen Draper 54.66
Mile – 4. Katerina Shuble 4:50.36, 11. Kailee Perry 5:00.29
1600 relay – 1. Ryen Draper, Savannah Nevels, Jazzlynn Gaiters, Iyanna Ross 3:41.47
Triple jump – 6. Ayanna Burrell 39-8 (12.09m), 7. Brianna Richard 39-2.25 (11.94m)
High jump – 19. Destiny Fernandes 5-1 (1.55m)
Shot put – 5. Ebonie Whitted 49-11.75 (15.23m), 6. Katie Seyfang 49-5 (15.06m), 18. Daija Young 39-10.75 (12.16m)

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