Women's Track & Field | May 12, 2017
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Juniors Brittany Casey and Hanne Christensen led the way for the Western Michigan track and field team on day one of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Kanley Track & Field Complex on Thursday.
Casey and Christensen combined to score seven points and put the Broncos in sixth place heading into Friday. Casey had a big personal-best performance in the hammer throw, taking fifth in the event. She threw a distance of 184' 4" right at the start and her distance held to score four points for the team.
"I was so excited," said Casey. "I felt like I had a lot more in me and I was hoping to build off of it. But I was just so excited to start off strong. I was really happy with how all my throws turned out. To hit 54 (meters), 55 and 56 today, I was so excited about that."
Teammate and senior Samantha Howard had the best hammer throw of her career in her final meet. Howard had personal-best throws three times in the event and eventually finished with a distance of 160' 8".
Christensen ended the day scoring three points in the 10,000-meter run. The Grand Blanc, Mich., native fought hard and took sixth place with a personal-best time of 35:42.27. The points were the first of her career in the 10,000. Senior Daya Wagh also had a personal-best after running a time of 36:48.39.
Sophomore Allison Hufnagel put herself in prime scoring position after four events of the heptathlon. Hufnagel had personal-bests in the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump and nearly had a new PR in the 200-meter dash. In the 100 hurdles she finished with a time of 15.18 seconds and later reached a height of 5' 5.25" in the high jump After the four events she sits in eighth place with 2,913 points.
Senior Kara Craig finished off her career with her best performance in the javelin. Craig made it to the finals but just missed out on scoring, taking night place with a new personal-best distance of 123' 2".
Friday is prelims day with the Broncos looking to qualify as many as possible for Saturday's final day. Friday will also feature the conclusion of the heptathlon and finals in the long jump, shot put, pole vault and the steeplechase.
