Focus and Grit Helps Track & Field to First MAC Outdoor Title Since 1981
ATHENS, Ohio – It was a moment that Lou Snelling was still trying to wrap his head around.
Surrounded by the green hills of southeast Ohio at Ohio U.'s Goldsberry Track, the 14th-year head coach was reflecting on something his BGSU track & field squad had never done in program history – win both an indoor and outdoor MAC title in the same season.
It was also a performance that had not been accomplished since 1981 when the MAC first held a women's outdoor conference meet.
"It's just so hard to do and maintain that level of focus," the MAC Coach of the Year said. "You have to give so much credit to the girls for being able to believe and buy in and just keep getting through the adversity. There's a lot of grit to make that happen."
After never finishing higher than fourth at the meet in Snelling's tenure, including ninth in 2024 and dead last in his first season back in 2012, the Falcons' 130 points were the most they had ever scored at the Championships and ahead of Eastern Michigan (115) and defending champion Kent State (113.5).
Coming into the final day in second place behind Kent State, Sabrina Imes and Bianca Staples started off competition strong in the triple jump – identical to the final day of the indoor championships. Imes became the third Falcon to win the event and jumped a PR of 12.77m on her final attempt while Staples placed third with a leap of 12.58m.
After a fourth-place 4x100m relay performance by Morgan Patterson, Alexis Parchman, Erinae Coleman and Kiersten Franklin (45.14), Kylee Cubbison stole the spotlight by winning the 1,500m (4:23.65) for the second time in her career while Reese Reaman finished in sixth (4:31.29).
DaMya Barker became the second-best performer in BGSU history with a third-place finish in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.80 seconds. Then, Franklin earned an individual medal by also earning bronze in the 100m dash (11.79).
Snelling explained that he started to taste the MAC team title once the freshmen duo of Rachael Hoover and Reaman placed second and fourth, respectively, in the 800m.
Hoover (2:08.63) and Reaman (2:09.30) became the first scorers for the Falcons in the event since 2011 and first duo to notch points in it since Andrea Rombes and Hall of Famer Tracy Gaerke in 1991.
Barker added a point in the 400m hurdles before Franklin took fourth in the 200m.
Franklin, a Division II transfer from Cedarville, tied Jeanette Pettigrew's program record set back in 2014 with a time of 23.80.
Cubbison added a runner-up finish in the 5,000m (17:02.57) while the Falcons also saw strong performances from Rachael Withrow (17:33.72) and Regina Rose (17:47.59) who placed tenth and 13th.
After winning both the hammer throw and shot put over the weekend, Trista Fintel came in fifth in the discus (47.14m) while freshman Emma Hoffman took eighth (45.58m). Sierra Brinson (42.94m) and Grace Bradtmueller (41.97m) also finished in the top 15.
Katherine Mendenhall finished off the field events by tying for third in the high jump (1.71m). The 4x400m relay put the cherry on top of a historic meet as Franklin, Reagan Campbell, Hoover and Parchman placed fifth (3:43.96).
"I have a lot of pride for every facet of the program," Snelling said. "We had a lot of ups and downs, and it wasn't a perfect run for us. However, there were so many moments where we were down, and they just made the decision to not accept that and fight back.
"I'm just so proud of how gritty we were this weekend and how bought in the team was."
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