Falcons Lead MAC Championships After Day One

Thursday, May 11

Kalamazoo, Mich.

TBA

Bowling Green State University

MAC Outdoor Championships

May 11, 2017 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

MAC Championships Results (.pdf)

Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University track and field team earned two runner-up awards and scored a MAC-best 27 points on the first day of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Western Michigan. The Falcons sit alone atop the standings, two points ahead of Miami, after the first of three days of the meet.

BGSU and Miami ran away from the field on day one with 27 and 25 points, respectively. Eastern Michigan sits in third with 12 points. Toledo is fourth with 11 points and Ohio is fifth with nine. Kent State, Western Michigan and Buffalo have each earned seven points, while Central Michigan and Akron have six each. Ball State and Northern Illinois is yet to pick up a point.

"We couldn't have asked for much better," BGSU Head Coach Lou Snelling said. "There was some drama throughout the day, particularly with the hammer, but it all turned out very well."

While championships were determined in just three events on the first day of competition, the Falcons made the most of limited opportunities. Bowling Green placed three student-athletes among the top seven finishers in the hammer three, as well as three more among the top nine in the 10,000. The Falcons also got a career-day from BeJai Fray in the heptathlon with three events remaining to be completed Friday.

Fray set the tone early in the day, posting a personal best mark in three of the four events that were contested Thursday. She began with a time of 14.72 seconds in the 100 hurdles, more than a full half-second better than her previous PR. Following the high jump, where she tied a season-best by clearing 5-1.75, Fray recorded the best mark of the day in the shot put at 43-5. That was a personal best by more two feet, propelling her into the final event of the day – the 200. She ran another personal best time of 25.93 seconds and sits in sixth place after the opening day. The competitors will take part in the final three events Friday, beginning at 11 am. Those three events will be the long jump, javelin and 800. Fray's 3,126 points is just 14 out of fourth place.

"BeJai came out of the blocks very, very well and just kept going," Snelling said. "I'm excited to see what she does tomorrow and I think she's going to finish out well."

When Fray completed her day, the Falcons took over at the hammer throw. The Falcons entered the meet with three of the top seven hammer throwers in the MAC and they lived up to those lofty expectations.

Senior Kayla Velasquez, who entered the meet seeded fourth, threw a personal best 191-feet-9 (58.45m) to earn the first of two Falcon runner-ups on the day. In fact, that mark moves her to second all-time in the hammer throw at Bowling Green, behind only three-time All-American Brooke Pleger.

"She's always had an impact for us," Snelling said. "Going back to her freshman year, she snuck into finals and scored a point in the discus at a time when that was huge for us. It's been fun to see her develop and today was what you want to see seniors do."

Freshman Kaila Butler entered the meet seeded fifth, but struggled early. She fouled on each of her first two throws but managed to record a mark that earned her the ninth and final spot in the finals. With three more throws in finals, Butler failed to improve upon her distance in her first two attempts. But on her final throw of the meet, the freshman came up big, posting a distance of 184-8 and climbing all the way to fourth in the standings.

"She's not particularly happy about her day, but it says a lot about her," Snelling said. "That's handling pressure and that's not easy to do, particularly for a freshman. It's exciting to see where she can go over the next several years."

Junior Elizabeth Iversen was seeded seventh entering the meet and finished seventh, throwing 179-7 on her third toss of the day. She entered finals in sixth place and remained there until Butler leapfrogged her one spot on the final throw of the day. In total, Bowling Green picked up 15 team points from the hammer throw, more than 10 of the 12 MAC schools scored on the entire day.

Once the hammer throw was finished, BGSU turned its attention to the 10,000 with Rachel Walny, Rebecca Schott and Elena Lancioni competing. Walny and Schott were expected to compete for spots on the podium and they both easily accomplished that.

Walny, in fact, ran at the front for much of the race. She pushed defending MAC Champion and second-team All-American Jordan McDermitt from the outset as the two ran step-for-step throughout the entirety of the 34-minute race. In the end, McDermitt's experience and final kick were too much for Walny to overcome and she finished as the MAC runner-up in the event. McDermitt broke the meet record with a time of 34:07.31 and Walny's time of 34:11.55 was the second-fastest in MAC Championship history, 21 seconds faster than the previous record.

"She was so gutsy," Snelling said. "When she got into her groove, she was clicking it off and made everyone hurt. Give Jordan credit for setting the MAC record. This will be one of the faster conference 10k's in the country. That was a legit race."

Schott also ran an impressive race, beginning in the lead pack of seven but eventually falling off into seventh. She steadily kept her pace and eventually picked off two more runners to finish fifth in a time of 35:38.83. Lancioni sat in 13^th in the early stages of the race but was also able to run a strong race strategically and finished ninth with a new personal best time of 36:23.96, coming up just nine seconds shy of earning a spot on the podium. That time was more than 42 seconds faster than her previous collegiate best.

"We laid out what we wanted to do ahead of time," Snelling said. "They executed very well. All three are very savvy, smart athletes to begin with. Rebecca made really good decisions in the middle and Elena came really close to getting on the podium. She's still relatively new to the 10k."

The team's 27 points mark the most on the opening day of MAC Championship competition in Snelling's six-year tenure. A year ago, the Falcons had seven points after day one and BGSU's previous best since 2012 was 18 points on the first day.

Bowling Green is back in action for seven events Friday. The heptathlon begins the final day of competition at 11 am and then the Falcons will take part in trials for the 100, 200, 400 and 1,500, with finals in all of those events taking place Saturday. Champions will be determined in both the long jump and shot put Friday as well.

BGSU RESULTS
Heptathlon - 6. BeJai Fray 3,126
Hammer throw - 2. Kayla Velasquez 191-9 (58.45m), 4. Kaila Butler 184-8 (56.29m), 7. Elizabeth Iversen 179-7 (54.73m)
10,000 - 2. Rachel Walny 34:11.55, 5. Rebecca Schott 35:38.83, 9. Elena Lancioni 36:23.96