Sept. 16, 2004

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University cross country teams, for the third consecutive weekend, will race in Northwest Ohio. The Falcons of head coach Cami Wells, after two home meets to begin the season, will make the short trip north for Saturday's (Sept. 18) Central Collegiate Invitational. The meet, hosted by arch-rival Toledo, will be held at the Ottawa Hills Golf Course, with the women's race beginning at 11:45 a.m. and the men's race slated for a 12:15 p.m. start.

The list of participating schools includes no fewer than nine Mid-American Conference schools, giving the teams and their fans a preview of the MAC Championships. The league championship meet, scheduled for Oct. 30, also will be held at the Ottawa Hills Golf Course.

In addition to the Falcons and the host Rockets, the list of participating schools includes league foes Akron, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Defiance, Heidelberg and Youngstown State round out the field.

Saturday's race will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis in the Toledo area by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN). BCSN is a 24-hour all-sports network carried on the Buckeye CableSystem. Tentative plans call for BCSN to air the Central Collegiate Invitational on Sunday (Sept. 19) at 10:00 p.m. The MAC Championship meet is also scheduled to be aired by BCSN, with broadcast date and time to be announced.

Following Saturday's meet, the Falcons will travel a little farther for the next race. BG will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 25. Stanford's men's and women's teams each are the defending national champions, and the women were ranked #1 in the nation in the 2004 FinishLynx/NCAA Division I Preseason Poll conducted by the Women's Cross Country Coaches Association (the men's preseason poll is not yet available).