Falcons Brave Wind And Cold To Compete At Northwest Ohio Relays

MEET RESULTS

The Bowling Green State University track and field team began the 2011 outdoor season on a windy, chilly Saturday by hosting the Northwest Ohio Relays at BGSU's Whittaker Track.

Facing athletes from Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Mich., as well as several individual athletes from across the area, the Falcons looked to use this meet as a means to get back into competition mode and prepare for upcoming meets.

"I was pleased with the overall effort of the team today," head coach Cami Paulson said.  "The conditions were challenging, but I felt that they handled that well and that we had some very nice efforts to start the (outdoor) season."

Paulson said that Saturday's weather made warming up and staying loose a greater challenge, but she wants the team to understand that teams who handle adverse weather conditions well will be stronger at the end of the season.  She notes that the weather at important meets, such as the Mid-American Conference championships, cannot be predicted -- thus, athletes have to rise above those circumstances and perform consistently regardless.

Paulson added, "(Today) was a positive start, but we know that we have many things to work on as a team and that every week will be a learning experience.  It is good to be competing again."

The day's action began with field competiton.  Jessie Rowland, BGSU's Mid-American Conference indoor champion in the weight throw, competed in several throwing events.  She set a personal-best distance of 53.15 meters as she won the hammer throw; she then won today's javelin competition with a toss of 34.78 meters.  Rowland placed second in the shot put and the discus.

Ashley Harris, who was also a big throws contributor at last month's MAC indoor title meet, beat Rowland's marks in both the shot put and discus throw.  In the shot put, Harris earned a mark of 13.82 meters.  She then tossed the discus 38.67 meters.

Brittany Hodges and Brooke Pleger both competed in all of the throwing events but the javelin; Katie Fazekas also competed in the hammer throw for the Falcons.

Senior Paige Lane returned to the javelin competition and pushed Rowland before placing second, just 0.05 meters shy of Rowland's distance.  Anna Pomento and Megan Niehaus also competed.

Janelle Campbell took part in two field events -- the triple jump and long jump.  Campbell won the triple jump after a leap of 9.99 meters, while her mark of 4.60 meters took third in the long jump.  The Falcons' Darlene Anderson placed second in that event to lead the team.

In the high jump competition, Tatijana Jacobson captured the win with a 1.57 meter leap.

Several Falcons highlighted the day's running events with event wins.  Rachael Doughty led three Falcons in the 100 meter hurdles with a 15.91-second run, while Alicia Jefferson captured the 100 meter dash in 13.28 seconds.

Janelle Campbell and Darlene Anderson got in some work on short-distance events, as well.  Campbell ran the 200 meter dash and finished in 28.65 seconds.  Anderson, like Doughty, ran a hurdles event.  Hers was the 400 meter variety, and her time was 1:14.06 for that distance.

In the distance events, Abby Koch topped three other BGSU runners, crossing the finish line in under 11 minutes (10:54.88) to take the 3000 meter run.  Also, Barbara Powers was re-introduced to the steeplechase and ran the 2000 meters in 7:25.85.

Powers and Koch also helped lead their team to victory in the first of Saturday's five relay events.  The duo, along with Ashley Fischer and Autumn Dettmann, crossed the finish in 21:35.77 in the 4x1600 meter relay.

Jeanette Pettigrew competed three times on Saturday, all in relay events.  In her first, the 4x100 meters, Pettigrew ran with Allorian Horne, Allison Weimer and Felicia Jefferson.  The group finished first, totaling 48.92 seconds.

Pettigrew, Jefferson and Weimer each also led their team to the top spot in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays; Allorian Horne also ran in the 200, while Heather Conger ran in her place in the 400 meter version.

Conger, along with Courtney Krummert, Autumn Dettmann and Carly Wells, finished first among three teams in the 4x800 meter relay, crossing the finish line in under ten minutes (9:51.71).

Complete results can be found at the link, placed at the top of this page.

The next action for BGSU will be next Saturday when the team travels up Interstate 75 to Toledo for the annual Toledo Collegiate Challenge.