Women's Track & Field | April 27, 2018

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Western Michigan track and field team wrapped up the third day of competition at the Drake Relays on Friday evening with the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay teams advancing to Saturday's finals and a school record falling to highlight the day of action.

The team of Diamond Mitchell, Madison Meredith, Alex Bryant and Davonne Bolden combined to run a time of 47.09 seconds to secure the final qualifying spot. Meredith also qualified individually for the 100-meter dash. The sophomore sprinter ran a school-record time of 11.64 seconds, to move on to Saturday's finals after taking the sixth qualifying spot and finishing second in her heat. Her effort bests the 11.71 second time of Joy Eloms set back in 2008.

Erin Dowd, Ashley Worford, Bolden and Bryant combined in the 4x400 for a time of 3:45.34. The squad finished fourth in their heat but had the seventh-best time on the day to advance to the finals on Saturday. Sarah Anderson finished sixth overall in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:28.33.

"We had a rough time with the handoffs," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "We've had different combinations every time we've run both of the relays and I think we can take at least a second off if we can clean up the handoffs. We just need some more consistency and executing with a sense of urgency."

Over in the long jump, sophomore Gabrielle Collins took third overall after jumping a distance of 19' 7.5" (5.98 meters). Classmate Erica Sheahan just missed out on eighth place by 0.5 inches after jumping 18' 9.25" (5.72m), taking ninth overall. Collins also ran her best time of the season in the 100-meter hurdles at 14.21 seconds.

The Broncos are back at in on Saturday with more relays, including the 4x200, sprint medley and shuttle hurdle.