Women's Track & Field | April 29, 2018
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Western Michigan track and field team wrapped up the Drake Relays with seven finishes in the top eight and two in the top three on Saturday.
WMU's 4x200-meter relay squad had the highest finish of any of its relays on the day, taking third overall with a time of 1:39.12. Ashley Worford, Madison Meredith, Diamond Mitchell and Erica Sheahan combined for the mark. The Broncos' other third place finish came courtesy of sophomore Erin Dowd. Dowd ran a time of 60.06 seconds to win her heat. Dowd finished just .06 seconds out of second place. Meredith also had a solid day individually, running a time of 11.91 seconds to take fifth overall.
"We had a lot of top eight and a couple of top three performances on the day," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "Any time you can make a top eight at the Drake Relays, you know you're doing something right.
The shuttle hurdle squad of Gabrielle Collins, Dowd, Allison Hufnagel and Alex Bryant combined for a time of 60.04 seconds. After struggling with handoffs on Friday, the revamped 4x100-meter relay team of Mitchell, Meredith, Bryant and Worford combined for a time of 46.25 seconds to take sixth overall. Lycan also revamped the 4x400-meter team, running out Sarah Anderson, Davonne Bolden Worford and Dowd. The group combined for a season-best time of 3:40.56 and took fifth place.
"It was a big step forward for us today in the 4x400," Lycan added. "I was pretty sure we could run four or five seconds faster than we had been and we did it."
The sprint medley relay team of Collins, Meredith, Bolden and Anderson ran a time of 3:54.08 to take fifth overall. The group put themselves in the WMU record book the with the fifth fastest time in program history, and the fastest time overall since 2013.
"Overall I thought we performed really well in a big meet situation," concluded Lycan. "I feel like, fitness-wise, we are right where we want to be at this point of the season. It's exciting to know that we still have a lot of improving to do in the next couple of weeks."
Western Michigan heads to Indiana University next weekend in its final meet before the 2018 Mid-American Conference Championship at Buffalo.
