Article published Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Campus notes: BGHS grad helps BGSU cross-country program BLADE STAFF
BOWLING GREEN - Andrea Pereira de Almeida experienced plenty of success in high school running cross country.
She helped Bowling Green High School's cross country team qualify for the Division I state meet four years in a row, capturing the state championship in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
She was part of a high school cross country team that was recognized in Ohio, and she was a member of a group regarded among the nation's best. The Bobcats competed in the inaugural Nike national cross country meet that pitted some of the best high school cross country teams together to run in a national meet.
Ultimately, Almeida's high school experiences led to her competing the past four years at Bowling Green State University. Health issues hampered her early in her collegiate career but Almeida apparently has regained her stride and is putting together a solid senior campaign this fall.
"She's running really well this year," BG cross country coach Cami Wells said. "She broke into our top five runners last fall."
Powers on
Almeida has consistently been one of the Falcons' top placers this season to help BG contend in most of their outings this season. She recently placed 50th in the All-Ohio Championships with a time of 20:02.7 to help the Falcons place ninth out of 42 teams in the team results.
She placed 21st overall (23:54.34) and was the first Falcon to cross the finish line at the Iona Meet of Champions where the Falcons ran eighth in the team results last month. She also placed 11th (18:47) and was the No. 2 Falcons runner at the 23rd annual Mel Brodt Invitational. Yet, reaching this point hasn't come easy for Almeida, who struggled with asthma during her first two years in college. Medical tests helped diagnose and deal with her problems prior to her junior season.
And Almeida has been running strong ever since.
"She really worked a couple of years to figure out what was going on and last year it all started to come together for her," Wells said. "She learned how to train and compete at a more consistent level."
Signs of her overall improvement started to show even a year ago.
Almeida became one of the Falcons' top five runners last fall and went on to post a personal-best 3K time of 11:29. She went on to set a personal record time of 22:45 to finish 11th at the Falcon Invitational before placing 52nd at the MAC championships with a personal 5k record time of 18:33.
Almeida's high school teammate, Barbara Powers, also decided to stay close to home by attending BG for college after a stellar high school running career. Like Almeida, Powers' collegiate career has been hampered by health problems (hamstring). However, she appears to be heading back on the right track this fall.
In only her second event this fall, she finished fourth (20:19.2) in the open race at the All-Ohio Championships.
Owens CC rolls
Owens Community College's volleyball team is now 23-13 and 6-1 in the OCCAC after defeating Sinclair and Muskegon last weekend. Owens swept Sinclair, 25-21, 25-12, 25-16, and went five sets with Muskegon, prevailing 23-25, 26-24, 18-25, 25-20, 16-14.
Erie Mason product Brooke Hearn had 21 kills on the weekend, while Southview's Shelby Schuster had 20. Springfield's Amanda Drew led the team in digs with 29.
Hearn has 258 digs on the season, trailing only Maureen Kurtz (Mohawk) with 301.
Owens' next home match is at 6 p.m. on Oct. 28 against Lorain. It is a Volley for the Cure match and everyone is encouraged to wear pink.
Johnson starts at Findlay
Central Catholic High School graduate Donte Johnson is a sophomore starter at free safety for the University of Findlay football team.
He has 28 tackles - 20 solo - and has intercepted two passes and broken up four. UF (5-1, 4-1) is ranked No. 26 in the nation entering tomorrow's game at Michigan Tech (1-4, 1-4). Other local defensive starters for the Oilers are Perrysburg product Brandon Butler (23 tackles) and Findlay's Andrew Leddy (22 tackles). Findlay High's Chris Condeni is starting at left guard.
OCC baseball tryouts
Owens will have tryouts for its baseball team beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the school's baseball complex.
Owens won its eighth OCCAC regular season conference championship last year before losing to Lakeland Community College in the NJCAA Sub-Region XII Championships. Permanent Link
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