Women's Track & Field | April 21, 2018
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Western Michigan's Sarah Anderson became just the third Bronco in program history to break the 2:06 mark in the 800-meter run as the WMU track and field team wrapped up the Jesse Owens Classic on Saturday evening.
Anderson ran a time of 2:05.95, a new personal-best by over three seconds, to take second overall in the 800. Anderson passes former MAC Champion Aisha Hodge on Western Michigan's outdoor performance list and now sits third all-time in program history behind Becky Horn and WMU Hall of Famer Jill Stamison, both All-Americans. The time also keeps her at the top of the MAC's performance list in the event, by nearly four seconds.
"I'm very pleased with Sarah's performance," said associate head coach Taryn Sheehan, who handles the distance runners. "Sarah did an excellent job of handling a very difficult academic load this week in preparation for next week's finals. Her performance is a great example of buying into the process and being consistent in training. This performance should get her into the NCAA East Preliminaries. I really am looking forward to seeing what she does in the upcoming weeks."
Sophomore Erin Dowd also ran a new personal-best, taking first overall in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.28 seconds, moving her up to third in the MAC. Fellow sophomore Madison Meredith ran the team's fastest time in the 100-meter dash this season at 11.96 seconds, taking seventh overall in the race. She also ran the team's top time of the season in the 200-meter dash at 24.50 seconds. Freshmen Diamond Mitchell and Ashley Worford also ran season's-best times in the 24.90 and 24.98 seconds.
WMU's 4x400-meter relay team of Anderson, Davonne Bolden, Worford and Dowd nearly ran the team's fastest time of the season. The group combined to run a time of 3:45.83, just .25 seconds from the best mark it ran this season at the Tiger Track Classic, to take third overall.
In the field events, the top finish came in the hammer throw on Friday. Senior Brittany Casey took fifth overall with a distance of 177' 4" (54.05 meters). Also finishing high was Erica Sheahan in the long jump. The sophomore took sixth overall with a distance of 18' 10" (5.74 meters).
Next weekend the Broncos split up and head to the Drake Relays and the Hillsdale Relays.
