Women's Track & Field | April 21, 2017
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan track and field team heads to The Ohio State University for the annual Jesse Owens Classic on Friday and Saturday at Jesse Owens Stadium.
WMU will face competition from the Mid-American Conference in Buffalo, Central Michigan, Kent State, Ohio, and Toledo. The host Buckeyes won't be the only Big Ten school participating, with the University of Michigan heading down to Columbus. The Broncos will also see Murray State, Kentucky and Wright State among others.
"We are starting to get most of the cylinders firing here," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "The next couple of weeks with this meet and the Penn Relays and the Hillsdale Relays will provide a lot of great chances to improve our marks."
One area the Broncos are looking to make strides in, is depth in the 400-meter dash. WMU has defending Outdoor MAC Champion Ayiana Gaines, who currently ranks in at the top of the MAC performance list in the event. Western Michigan can turn to senior Diajah Ruffin, who also scored in the event at last season's MAC Championship. Junior Davon Bolden also can provide depth, being a part of the MAC Championship 4x400-meter relay team.
Despite weather concerns for the weekend, Lycan knows his team will go in and do what they need to.
"If the weather is bad, then it just comes down to what we always try to do," Lycan said. "That's beat the other teams. We've got a lot of people who are ready to hit some good marks and we are as healthy as we are going to be."
One event Western Michigan already has a good mark in is the 4x100-meter relay. The team ran its fastest time of the season last weekend at the Ball State Challenge at 45.66. It was the fourth-fastest in program history and the best time in the MAC so far this season.
"We are definitely ahead of where we were last year," added Lycan. "They had some trouble on the handoffs but it was still a great time and there is still a lot of room for improvement."
Friday's schedule is broken up into two sessions. The hammer throw and javelin will be at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Later in the evening the events kick off with the 5,000-meter run at 7 p.m. WMU will also take part in the 1,500-meter run at 8:20 p.m.
