Falcon Men Ready for Regional

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio- The Bowling Green State University men's cross country team will embark on what could possibly be its last meet of the season Saturday when it travels to Bloomington, Indiana for the Division I Great Lakes regional track meet.

The Falcons will compete against 31 other teams from the Great Lakes region in the 10K race. 

The top two teams and the top four individuals will advance to the National Championship. Additionally, thirteen additional at-large teams from around the entire nation will be selected by the NCAA Division I track and field subcommittee.

For the Falcons, it will be another tough field to compete against on Saturday.

“The regional meet is always great competition and we look forward to competing in it each year,” head coach Cami Wells said. “The competition level is high but we participate against very strong competition all season.”

Some of the top teams in the region according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association include Big Ten teams Wisconsin (1^st), Ohio State (3^rd), Indiana (4^th), Michigan (5^th) and Michigan State (10^th). Fellow Mid-American Conference opponents that are ranked include Kent State (9^th), Eastern Michgian (11^th), Central Michigan (12^th) and Miami (Ohio) (13^th). The other top teams competing are Butler (2^nd), Notre Dame (6^th), Dayton (7^th), Indiana State (8^th), Marquette (14^th), Oakland (15^th).

Wisconsin (10^th), Butler (26^th) and Ohio State (28^th) are ranked in the national poll.

The Falcons finished ninth at the MAC Championship on October 31. Wells hopes the team will rebound from that performance and have its best race of the season on Saturday.

“When you get beat and you know you didn't compete to your capability it is disappointing and you learn from those experiences to be better the next time out,” Wells said. “The MAC meet finish was good motivation to finish off the regional meet like they are all capable of racing.”

Juniors Chris Moody, Jesse Smuda and Johnstone Kirui will lead the team. Freshman Jason Salyer and sophomore Ben Leininger will also race for the Falcons.