Arellano Grabs Third, Falcons Finish Eighth In Live In Lou Cross Country Classic

Saturday, October 2

Louisville, KY.

10:45 A.M.

Bowling Green State University

Louisville XC Classic (E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park)

Arellano Grabs Third, Falcons Finish Eighth In Live In Lou Cross Country Classic

October 02, 2021 | Men's Cross Country

Live in Lou Cross Country Classic Individual and Team Results

By: Pershelle Rohrer, BGSU Strategic Communications

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Six Falcons earned new personal best times Saturday morning (Oct. 2) as the Bowling Green State University men's cross country team notched a top ten finish in the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic. The Falcons took eighth in team scoring, led by Cesar Arellano's third-place performance.

Men's 8K Event
The men's Blue Division 8k event at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park saw 531 athletes competing from 68 schools. Bowling Green earned a eighth-place team score, tallying 358 points. Grand Valley State won the event with 81 points, and fellow Great Lakes Region school Purdue Fort Wayne took second with 184 points. Also representing the Great Lakes Region was Wright State, who finished 13^th with 443 points.

Individual Performances

Cesar Arellano placed third in the event, crossing the finish line at 24:40.1. The senior set a new personal best in the 8k, improving on his time from the 2019 Louisville Classic (24:43.2) by three seconds.
AJ Haffa was the second Falcon to finish the race, placing 30^th with a new personal best time of 25:28.8. He improved upon his previous best of 25:59.3, set in the 2020 Mid-American Conference Championship, by 30 seconds.
Sophomore Mikey Worboy shattered his previous best in the 8k (27:20.1) by over a minute, completing the race in 26:13.7 to finish 90^th.
Crossing the finish line fourth for Bowling Green was Christian Gagliardi, who set a new personal best of 26:21.2. The sophomore climbed 92 spots between the 2.1k split and the end of the race to finish 102^ndoverall.
Joseph Johnson III finished fifth for the Falcons and 141^st overall. The junior crossed the finish line at 26:37.6, good for his best time of the 2021 season.
Michael Nowinski (172^nd) and Jorge Vazquez (196^th) also set personal bests in the meet. Nowinski completed the 8k in 26:53.8, topping his time from the 2021 Spartan Invitational (27:37.2) by just under 45 seconds. Meanwhile, Vazquez crushed his previous best, also set in this year's Spartan Invitational, by nearly two minutes. He finished his second collegiate 8k in 27:07.3.

Coach Kelly Leatherman's Take
"We took a great step forward today as a team. We had goals to push hard the second half of the race, and it paid off well for us. Cesar was with the front pack through the first half, then made big moves to put himself in the third-place position. It was great to see him have that strong moment to give him confidence heading into the postseason."

Up Next
The men's and women's cross country teams will return home on Saturday, Oct. 16, for the Falcon Invitational. The meet will take place at the Bowling Green XC Course, with the men running in the Bob Rothermel 8,000m event at 11 a.m. and the women competing in the Steve Price 6,000m event at 12 p.m.

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'