Bowling Green State University named cross country runners Owen Zaumeyer and Rachael Hoover its Athletes of the Week on Monday, October 19, honoring two juniors who led the Falcons to a sweep of the Falcon Invitational on their home course in Bowling Green. The weekly awards, selected by the university’s strategic communications and external relations departments, recognized performances that produced personal records and two of the fastest times in program history.
Zaumeyer, a junior from Burton, Ohio, won the men’s race at the Mel Brodt Cross Country Course in 24:53.5 for the 8K, breaking the 25-minute mark for a personal record and the tenth-best 8K time in program history. Hoover, a junior from Plain City, Ohio, won the women’s 6K in a personal-best 20:45.3, the sixth-fastest time in program history and her first individual victory of her career, according to Bowling Green State University Athletics.
Hoover’s win led the Bowling Green women to their second straight Falcon Invitational title. The Falcons scored 22 points, a season low, outrunning six other teams in a field that included Kent State, Wright State, Cleveland State, Ohio Dominican and Toledo’s B team. Bowling Green placed four runners in the top 10 and swept the top three spots, with Lexi Panning second in 21:17.2 and Talya Schreiber third in 21:19.9, just behind Hoover, who won by more than 30 seconds on a wet, overcast morning.
The men’s victory carried its own milestone. Bowling Green scored 39 points and recorded seven personal records to win a meet for the first time in more than eight seasons, ahead of Wright State, Toledo, Kent State and Akron in a 48-runner field. Colin Buening finished seventh in 25:30.1 and Luke Lesseuer was in the top 10 in 25:33.8, with both runners also setting personal records behind Zaumeyer.
Coaches pointed to execution and resilience after a difficult outing two weeks earlier at the Paul Short Run, where heat and humidity took a toll on the Falcons. The men’s team said it came into the home meet with a clear race plan, moved to the front early and kept building through the race, while the women’s staff said its top three runners are now in position to contend for all-conference honors when the postseason begins.
The honors cap the regular-season home schedule and give the program momentum. Both teams built their winning totals on depth as well as their front-runners, with six of the women’s top seven in the top 15 and the men’s scoring spread through the top 20, a pattern the Falcons will need against the full Mid-American Conference field.
Next up, Bowling Green will spend two weeks preparing for the Mid-American Conference Championship on October 30 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For Zaumeyer and Hoover, the Athlete of the Week awards confirm what the Falcon Invitational results already showed: two Ohio runners, racing close to home in Wood County, head into the championship meet in the best form of their college careers.