Shuble, Niekamp Earn All-MAC Honors In MAC Cross Country Championships

Saturday, October 30

YPSILANTI, MICH.

11 a.m.

Bowling Green State University

MAC XC Championship

Shuble, Niekamp Earn All-MAC Honors In MAC Cross Country Championships

October 30, 2021 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Men's 8K Results Women's 6K Results

By: Pershelle Rohrer, BGSU Strategic Communications

Ypsilanti, Mich. – The Bowling Green men's and women's cross country teams competed in the 2021 Mid-American Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 30, with the Falcon women taking home a fourth-place team score and the men's team placing eighth. Seniors Katerina Shuble and Sydney Niekamp placed 10^th and 11^th overall, taking home second team All-MAC honors.

Men's 8K Event
The men's 8k event featured 70 athletes from the eight men's Mid-American Conference cross country teams. The Falcons tallied 195 points en route to an eighth place team score in the event. Eastern Michigan took home their third straight MAC title with 30 points. Toledo placed second with 68 points, and Miami earned 87 points to round out the top three. Ohio (101), Buffalo (146), Kent State (155), and Central Michigan (164) took spots four through seven in the event.

Individual Performances

Cesar Arellano finished first for the Falcons and 23^rd overall, posting a time of 25:23.2. The senior recorded his best MAC Championship time to date, surpassing his 2020 time of 25:24.3 by just over a second.
AJ Haffa notched a 44^th place finish for the Falcons, crossing the finish line at 26:17.4. He finished just one spot ahead of Liam Seiple, who recorded a personal best with a time of 26:21.6. Seiple finished 45^th overall and third for Bowling Green.
Joseph Johnson III finished fourth for the Orange and Brown and 48^th overall, finishing the race in 26:31.5. Johnson's time marked a season high, eclipsing his Live in Lou Classic time of 26:37.6.
Charlie Nowinski rounded out the top five Falcon finishers, placing 53^rd overall with a time of 26:50.6. The freshman earned a new personal best in the 8k in his first MAC Championship race.

Coach Kelly Leatherman's Take
"Today we were reminded of how strong the MAC Conference is. Competing against the best of the best can have its challenges, but we know we didn't give our best on the day. As a group, we are optimistic on where we can go from here and know that the journey is a challenge we are excited to take.

"I'm proud of the way the group moved up throughout the second half of the race. We were able to respond and win our side-by-side battles in those later parts of the race. We had a few lifetime personal bests today that we should always recognize and be proud of."

Women's 6K Event
The women's race saw 106 athletes competing from the 12 women's Mid-American Conference cross country teams. The Falcon women earned a fourth-place team score, tallying 136 points. Toledo took home their first title since 2014, notching 32 points. Miami took second with 61 points, and Akron earned 92 points to take third place. Ohio (155), Central Michigan (166), Ball State (195), Kent State (220), Eastern Michigan (227), Buffalo (245), Western Michigan (269), and Northern Illinois (282) took places five through 12 in the 6k.

Two Falcons Take Home All-MAC Honors
Katerina Shuble and Sydney Niekamp finished 10^th and 11^th overall in the 6k event, earning second-team All-MAC honors. Shuble crossed the finish line at 21:14.6. She previously took home All-MAC honors in 2020, when she earned first-team recognition after placing sixth in the Bowling Green-hosted event. Niekamp's time of 21:21.2 marks her career best in the 6k, passing her time of 21:22.9 from the Paul Short Run on Oct. 1. This is her first time earning All-MAC honors.

Other Performances

Kailee Perry placed third for the Falcons and 30^th overall, posting a time of 22:04.3. The time is her best of the season, passing her Paul Short Run time by ten seconds.
Elise Johnson placed 36^th overall, crossing the finish line at 22:22.0. The time comes within seven seconds of her personal best of 22:15.7, also set at this year's Paul Short Run.
Freshmen Emma Steingass and Raegan Burkey competed in their first collegiate meets as attached athletes, placing 50^th and 64^th overall. Steingass finished the race in 22:44.9, shattering her previous best time of 24:06.65 from the 2021 Falcon Invitational. Burkey earned a time of 23:02.6, shaving a full minute off her previous best time from the Spartan Invitational on Sept. 17.

Coach Lou Snelling's Take
"It was pretty gutty today. We knew it was going to be one of those days where there really weren't a lot of moments of comfort or relaxing. It was going to be a fight the whole way. Particularly, Kat and Syd, they just fought the whole way, and I'm just so proud of them. All-conference, Kat was there last year. Syd just missed it last year, so she's been really focused on getting there this year and it was really cool to see her do it. I'm really proud of her. It was a fight today."

Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Evansville, Ind., to compete in the Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 12. The meet will be held at the Angel Mounds Cross Country Course on the campus of the University of Evansville.

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'