Women's Track & Field | April 29, 2017
PHILADELPHIA – For the second straight day, the Western Michigan track and field team nearly broke school records at the Penn Relay Carnivals as the team wrapped up competition on Friday.
It was, once again, the 4x100-meter relay that came the closest. Sarita Dotson, Madison Meredith, Naiomi Dulaney and Ayiana Gaines combined to run a time of 45.47 seconds, missing the program record by just .04. The team took second place while running the Mid-American Conference's fastest time of the season.
"We've been out there with some of the best teams in the country," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "Getting a chance to come out to this type of atmosphere against these types of teams, it's great for them to get this exposure. We only come out to the Penn Relays once every four years and I think they are taking great advantage of it."
WMU's shuttle hurdle relay team ran the second-fastest time in program history after running a time of 56.43 seconds. Lindsey Hufnagel, Gabrielle Collins, Jade McKnight and Gaines combined to take fourth overall.
In the sprint medley, Dotson, Hufnagel, Gaines and Jordan Anderson combined to run a time of 3:56.76. The Broncos faced some of the best teams in the nation and came out in 12th place after running the eighth-fastest time in program history.
Individually Hufnagel and McKnight both had personal-bests in the 100-meter hurdles. Hufnagel took 12th overall and ran the fifth-fastest time in program history at 13.85 seconds. McKnight finished in 19th after running 14.26.
Over at the Hillsdale "GINA" Relays freshman Erica Sheahan finished seventh in the long jump after reaching 18' 3.75". Junior thrower Savannah Dugan took fifth in the shot put with a throw of 43' 1.75". Brittany Casey also had a good day in the throws, taking third overall in the hammer throw with a distance of 165' 3".
In the races, sophomore Diana Holsey and Keyera Lige finished in the top five of the 100-meter hurdles. Holsey took second overall with a time of 14.43 seconds and Lige took fifth at 15.35. Lige went on to win the 400-meter hurdles after running 1:03.16. In the 400-meter dash Kaniya Weatherspoon took eighth after running a time of 58.97 and took fifth in the 200 with a time of 25.36. Sheahan also took fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.38.
Action resumes on Saturday at both meets, with WMU competing in the 4x800-meter relay and the finals of the 4x400.
