Bowling Green State University

ALL-OHIO STARTING LINEUP

The Bowling Green State University cross country season resumes on Friday (Oct. 1) when both the men's and women's teams travel to Cedarville, Ohio for the 2010 All-Ohio Intercollegiate Championships.

Hosted by Cedarville University, the All-Ohio meet features four races – two men's and two women's.

Each of the men's races will be 8K. The Championship event begins at 2:00 p.m., while the Open race commences at 3:30 p.m.

Both women's races feature a 5K distance. The 5K Championship will take place at 2:45 p.m.; the second race occurs at 4:15 p.m.

Over 40 teams from across the state will participate in the meet. Many are either regionally or nationally ranked. This includes four Mid-American Conference opponents.

On the men's side, the Falcons will have to face Akron, Miami and Toledo, each of whom are ranked in the top 15 regionally among NCAA Division I teams. In Division III, Mount Union is ranked in the top 25. Also, two schools in the top five of the NAIA rankings are slated for the meet – Malone (ranked #1) and Shawnee State (#4).

The Falcon women face five different teams NCAA Division I teams ranked in the top 15 regionally. This includes Toledo, Miami and Ohio University from the MAC. Toledo is also ranked 34th nationally; however, they will not be bringing their top seven runners.

Other teams at the meet include Ohio Northern (ranked 16th in Division III) and Malone (ranked third in the NAIA).

The seven Falcons in each championship race will be: (men) Chris Moody, Jason Salyer, Rob Kelvey, Greg Black, Jesse Smuda, Luke Zerkle and Josh Franek, as well as (women) Abby Koch, Barbara Powers, Heather Conger, Autumn Dettmann, Sally Kandie, Katie Borgelt and Tara Weiss.

Running in the open races will be: (men) Jeff Ehler, Brian Ferber, Perry Fraylick, Abraham Busienei, Ian Zimmerman and Joe VanBolderen, as well as (women) Megan Kelsey, Courtney Krummert, Taylor Stichter, Saisha Gailliard, Caitlin Flack and Ashley Burns.

Complete information about the meet can be found here, courtesy of Cedarville University, the host institution. At the link, you can find course maps and information, photo galleries of the courses, directions and parking information, as well as past All-Ohio meet results and records.

Cami Paulson, head coach of the BGSU cross country teams, recently answered several questions about the upcoming meet and how the team has been preparing.

The questions and answers are below…

What have the teams done over the last two weeks to prepare for the All-Ohio meet?

“We were able to get in a great week of training last week without having to back off for a meet on the weekend, which allowed us to get that much more out of the week and still have time to get our legs feeling fresher for the All-Ohio Meet tomorrow. “

How have the teams responded to the time off since the Michigan State meet?

“The team needed the mental break from racing and to be able to focus on training and get geared up mentally and physically for the meets we will be competing in this month. I was very pleased with the practice sessions we had last week and the way the teams have taken care of themselves to recover and be ready for this week.”

What do you expect from the runners in each of the races, given the different format of this meet -- especially the runners in the championship races, who will face a more difficult level of competition?

“The top 7 runners from each team race in the championship races so that is the more competitive race amongst the two, but there is still a very good field to compete against in the open race. We are using this split racing format to work on some things that will make the team that much stronger once they are all back together in a combined race at the Falcon Invite. For those athletes in the open race, it is an opportunity to race with the front pack and to gain some confidence in getting out aggressively without having teammates to key off of, which will allow them to gain some confidence in their ability to trust their own decision-making out there on the course. For the athletes in the championship race, it is an opportunity to race in a championship environment and face several MAC schools, which will be our focus in competition this weekend.”

How do you expect to fare against the other participating MAC schools?

“We will use this opportunity to compete against the MAC schools as a kind of mini MAC meet and expect that we will be aggressive and confident and fight until the end to put ourselves in a position to beat those teams. We are fully aware of what each team brings to the table in the way of competition and will not back down from going for it or be intimidated.”

How can the teams use this meet to prepare for the Falcon Invitational in two weeks and, later, the MAC Championship at the end of the month?

“It is great to have a championship meet to compete in to prepare for the future. There is a lot of team pride in beating other teams from Ohio. This is just a great meet, unlike any other we will compete in this year and really nothing else in the country compares to this meet in terms of the participation from the other schools in the state and the level of talent across the board from all different divisions. It is an exciting and challenging competition that it is just a joy to be a part of each year. We can use this meet to continue to build on what we have accomplished so far and to be at our best at the end of the season, which is what we use each meet for throughout the year. This will be the final 5K for the women and the final 5K race for our seniors during their career here at BG so that is some extra incentive for those young ladies.”

Falcon Cross Country Teams Run at All-Ohio Championships on Friday