Women's Squad Win Falcon Invite at Home

Friday, October 13

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Falcon Invite

Photo by: Leesa Moore

October 13, 2023 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: by Sam Hughes, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio –  The Bowling Green State University cross country teams hosted the Falcon Invite on Friday with the women's team finishing atop the table of the competition.

Cubbison, Perry Edge Akron for Victory
The women's team saw their top seven runners place within the top 37 finishes, tallying 63 points which edged Akron (64 points) to secure the win. The Falcons were once again led by Kylee Cubbison and Kailee Perry this time out. Perry jumped out early, checking in a 2^nd place at the 1-mile marker, however, a second half push from Kylee Cubbison saw the sophomore finish in 4^th with a time of 21:22.7. Perry would finish right behind Cubbison in 5^th at 21:33.8. The Falcons also saw promising performances that were integal in the narrow victory from Regina Rose, Katerina Shuble, Kristin Groppe, Elise Johnson, and Rachael Withrow. The Falcons cross the finish line in bunches with four Falcons placing in the top 14 finishes which proved to be the difference maker on Friday.

Falcon Performances
·      Kylee Cubbison and Kailee Perry led the Falcons across the finish line, checking in at 21:22.7 (4^th) and 21:33.8 (5^th), respectively.
·      Regina Rose finished just 10 seconds away from breaking a PR at 21:56 (10^th).
·      Katerina Shuble was the fourth Falcon to cross the finish line with a time of 22:10.8 (14^th).
·      Kristin Groppe finished at 22:37.2 (34^th)
·      Elise Johnson, Rachael Withrow, and Izzy Best finish within a second of each other with times 22:42 (36^th), 22:42.1 (37^th), and 22:42.8 (38^th), respectively.
·      Lillian Katsaras and Emma Hellwege finish together at 22:45.5 (41^st) and 22:51 (43^rd).
·      Raegan Burkey and Alyssa Ellerbrock round out the Falcons at 23:26.9 (54^th) and 23:54.6 (70^th).

Men Land 6^th Place at Home
The men's squad tallied 142 points, landing in 6^th place as they hosted the Falcon Invite on Friday. AJ Haffa jumped out to an early lead of the Falcons through the 1-mile marker. However, later pushes from Anthony Sweet and Heriberto Alvarez saw the two pass Haffa around the 3k mark. Alvarez would pull ahead of Sweet at the 8k marker to finish first for the Falcons with a time of 25:34.2. Sweet and Haffa would follow with times of 25:43.8 and 26:10.9, respectively. The finishes of Michael Nowinski, Michael Worboy, Ben Myers, and Christian Gagliardi would all play apart in the final scores of the Invite.

Falcon Performances
·      Heriberto Alvarez crossed the finish line first for the Falcons at 25:34.2 (16^th)
·      Anthony Sweet followed, finishing at 25:43.8 (21^st)
·      AJ Haffa was the third Falcon to cross the finish line with a time of 26:10.9 (36^th).
·      Michael Nowinski and Michael Worboy finish together at 26:25.3 (42^nd) and 26:26.6 (43^rd).
·      Ben Myers, Christian Gagliardi, and Hunter Sidle finish closely at 26:36.1 (46^th), 26:37.9 (49^th), and 26:53.8 (55^th), respectively.
·      Luke Woolard and Micah Bentley round out the Falcons performances, logging finishes at 27:43.7 (73^rd) and 28:01.2 (79^th).

Coaches Thoughts
"This is probably our best performance of the year so far. Obviously, we love winning and there were a lot of positives we are going to take from today. Kylee, who continues to impress as a sophomore, and Kailee went back and forth. It was nice to see them work together out there in moments. The 5 spot continues to be by committee, so we have some things to work on there." Said head coach Lou Snelling on the women's performance which claimed victory, finishing with 63 points.
"We had some solid performances with Heriberto Alvarez, Anthony Sweet, and AJ Haffa. We have some things to work on of we want to be competitive in two weeks." said head coach Lou Snelling on the performance form the men's side.

Up Next
The Falcons return to action next weekend as both sides travel to Dexter, Michigan to take part in the Fall Classic hosted by Eastern Michigan. The men's race is set to begin at 4:30pm with the women's race taking off shortly after.

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'