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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Falcon Invitational
WXC Wins Falcon Invitational for the Second Year in a Row
October 16, 2026 | Women's Cross Country
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — On a wet, overcast morning at the Mel Brodt Cross Country Course, the Bowling Green women's cross country team repeated history.
For the second year in a row, the Falcons won the Falcon Invitational, outrunning six other teams and scoring 22 points, a season low. The field also included Kent State, Wright State, Cleveland State, Ohio Dominican and Toledo "B."
"I'm proud of the effort that we put in across the board today," head coach Lou Snelling said. "Proud of the effort."
Bowling Green secured its total by placing four runners in the top 10, including a 1-2-3 finish. Six of its top seven runners finished in the top 15.
Rachael Hoover set a personal record of 20:45.3, outpacing the field by more than 30 seconds. Lexi Panning (21:17.2) and Talya Schreiber (21:19.9) crossed the line together behind her.
"Rachael running 20:45 largely in a solo effort, right? That's legit," Snelling said. "Fitness-wise, she's in a great place. Same thing with Lexi and Talya, particularly Lexi. Really excited about where they can take things here in our next couple meets."
Maggie Foust also set a personal record, finishing eighth in 21:51.2.
Marissa Boone (22:10.3, 11th), Morgan Wiechman (22:11.0, 14th) and Lily Good (22:21.6, 16th) were the final scorers for the Falcons. Wiechman's time was a personal record, beating her previous best by about 15 seconds.
Madison Foster (22:59.5), Leah Corby (23:06.4) and Anna Buddelmeyer (23:08.8) placed 24th, 25th and 26th. Nora Ritting finished in 23:38.3, followed by Amelia Barilla (24:08.3) and Clare Valenza (25:27.8).
Snelling said the top three have a chance to contend for all-conference honors.
"Lexi's ready. Talya's ready. All three can mix it up in terms of the all-conference situation, somebody having a day to be first team all-conference," Snelling said. "It's kind of a who shows up and has the big day, sort of thing. I think any one of them can do that."
He also pointed to the team's youth. "We still have some gaps we need to work on, but that's a process with having such a young team right now," Snelling said.
Bowling Green will spend the next two weeks preparing for the postseason, beginning with the Mid-American Conference Championship on Oct. 30 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
"We took the steps today that we needed to," Snelling said. "We still have some more things we got to do and we got to work on if we're going to have the day we want to have at MAC and regionals. But it's there for us. There's more in front of us. We have to keep working the process. We got to keep doing the small things over the next two and four weeks. But this group is getting much better at that."
