Bowling Green Cross Country Travels To DeKalb For MAC Championship Weekend

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University men's and women's cross country teams will journey to DeKalb, Illinois this weekend for the Mid-American Conference Championships. The races will be this Saturday, November 2nd starting at 12:00 PM ET at the NIU North 40 Cross Country Course hosted by Northern Illinois University.

2019 MAC Championships at NIU North 40 XC Course
The 2019 MAC Championships will be hosted by NIU this season on their North 40 Cross Country Course. The course is located at the end of Kishwaukee Drive in DeKalb near NIU's engineering building and College of Business. The championships will consist of the Men's 8k race at 12:00 PM eastern time, and the Women's 6k race at 1:00 PM eastern time. The BGSU women's cross country team had one competitor take the course at NIU earlier this season when Allison Holahan placed 21^st in the NIU Huskie Challenge (Sept. 6). For further information on the meet click HERE.

Scouting The Field
The BGSU men's and women's XC teams will each compete against the other 11 Mid-American Conference teams in the field. Over the course of the season the men's team has fared well against MAC competition including Buffalo, Ohio and Toledo. The women's team has also had a good showing during the year against Buffalo, Ohio, Ball State, Central Michigan, Toledo and NIU.

Notable Quotes
"How we handle our run up this week is very similar to Bradley, and almost exactly the same as Louisville. There are some tweaks in there, but the structure itself is about the same" Head Coach Lou Snelling said about the women's team preparing for MAC Championships this week. Coach explained that his previous look at the course earlier this season at the NIU Huskie Challenge allows for great preparation despite this being a relatively new course for the team.

Coach's closing thoughts were, "Everything has been aimed at these moments, conference, regionals. We just need to put all of the together one to five, one to seven. We haven't really done that as a group quite yet. We've had moments where we've come close… We are in a good place from a fitness and mental preparation perspective going into this weekend".

On going from the Bradley Pink Classic to the MAC Championships Coach Juan Carrillo said on the men's team, "Our training is designed to have a tough workout that Friday before Bradley…Two weeks after Bradley we always seem to get our legs under us, feel better, feel sharper and we are ready to go. That's what we are preparing for; the training is going to kick in when it matters, and that's this Saturday". On the NIU home XC course itself, Coach Carrillo explained that his prior experience coaching at NIU provides him with a good understanding of the course, and how to train for it. The team has also used video of the course route to prepare visually for this weekend.

Coach Carrillo said in closing, "The last four years have been nothing but improvement. From last place, then seventh, then fifth, then third and then second last year. What's left? We want to go and win. I think the guys are ready to just give it all. If we do that, whatever the result we can leave feeling good about ourselves. We've trained months for this, and we're going to go and give it all we got".

Last Time Out
The BGSU Cross Country teams competed in the Bradley "Pink" Classic two weeks ago on Friday, October 18^th. Six Falcons earned new personal bests in their respective races. The Men's 8k Red Race event had 165 competitors in total, in which the Falcons earned a team score of 272. This earned a 10th place finish out of 20 teams in the field. The Women's 6k Red Race event saw 180 participants in total. Bowling Green finished 10th in team scoring out of 23 teams total earning 286 points.
Cesar Arellano placed first for the men's team (25^th overall) for the first time during the 2019 season while improving on his time at Bradley from a season ago. Freshmen AJ Haffa and Vince Manning recorded new personal bests in the 8k race. Sydney Niekamp also placed first for the women's team (23^rd overall) for the first time this season, also earning a new personal best in the race. Katerina Shuble, Allison Holahan and Allie Zofkie also earned new personal bests. Holahan bested her time in a 6k race, which she earned earlier this season on this upcoming course in the NIU Huskie Classic (Sept. 6).

Up Next
Following the MAC Championships, the Orange and Brown will compete in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional events. This year, the event will be held in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 15.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Bowling Green Falcon 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'

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