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Bowling Green State University
MAC Championship
October 29, 2026 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., for the MAC Championship on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Prairies Golf Club. Western Michigan will host the women's 6K at 11 a.m. ET, followed by the men's 8K at noon.
The women enter the postseason after winning the Falcon Invitational on Oct. 16 for the fourth year in a row. Bowling Green scored a season-low 22 points and swept the top three spots. Junior Rachael Hoover won her first career race in a personal-best 20:45.3, the sixth-fastest 6K in program history. Junior Lexi Panning (21:17.2) and freshman Talya Schreiber (21:19.9) followed, and six of the Falcons' top seven finished in the top 15. Earlier this fall, BGSU placed second at the George Dales Invitational in Kalamazoo, with three runners in the top 10, and ninth in a 37-team field at the Paul Short Run.
They're ranked No. 7 in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region and are one of six MAC programs in the region's top 14, along with No. 2 Toledo, No. 6 Akron, No. 9 Western Michigan, No. 11 Ohio and No. 14 Miami (Ohio). Toledo, which has won five straight conference titles, is also ranked No. 12 nationally.
Last year, the Falcons placed third at the conference meet, their highest finish since 2020, and went on to place sixth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, their best regional finish since 1998. Panning was named to the All-MAC Second Team after finishing 13th.
BGSU still seeks its first MAC title since 1998.
The men's team is looking to build on last year's finish at the MAC Championships. The Falcons enter the meet after winning the Falcon Invitational with 39 points, their first meet win in eight seasons. In that win, junior Owen Zaumeyer individually won the 8K in 24:53.5, the 10th-fastest time in program history.
Toledo is the two-time defending MAC champion and was picked first in the men's preseason poll. Miami, Akron, Ohio and Eastern Michigan rounded out the top five.
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