Women's Track & Field | April 05, 2018
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan track and field team travels to Indiana State University this weekend for the Gibson Invitational.
Friday's action will be brief with the Broncos only competing in the hammer throw and the javelin. The rest of the action takes place on Friday. WMU will compete against the host Sycamores, along with Northern Iowa, Milwaukee, Bradley, IUPUI and Valparaiso.
WMU's throwers are off to a hot start and will be on display this weekend in Terre Haute. The group is led by seniors Brittany Casey and Savannah Dugan. Casey has competed in both of Western Michigan's meets so far this season and each time she has come away with the Mid-American Conference's top mark in the hammer throw. Last weekend at Eastern Illinois Big Blue Classic, the Zeeland, Mich., native helped the Broncos win the meet after taking first place in the hammer with the MAC-leading distance of 177' 6" (54.11 meters).
"It's good to see Brittany at the top of the conference," said assistant throws coach Pat Tracy. "This group is at a good starting point. There have been a lot of areas of improvement in technical development, which will allow for some great jumps."
Dugan heads into the weekend ranked seventh in both the hammer throw and the shot put. She led off the season with her best hammer throw of 165' 11" (50.57m) and had her season-best shot put throw of 46' 1.25" (14.05m) to take second at the EIU Big Blue Classic.
WMU also has a young stable of throwers, learning on the go during their freshmen season. Abena Atuobi has the second-best distance on the team in the shot put this season at 41' 8.75" (12.72m) and the third-best discus distance at 130' 11" (39.90m). The top discus thrower is not a newcomer, but had not competed in nearly two seasons due to injury. Junior Riley Wilhelm finished fourth in the discus last weekend at the EUI Big Blue Classic after throwing 135' 11" (41.43m). Aniya Davis has shown promise in the hammer throw, as well.
Western Michigan continues on next weekend, traveling down to Auburn University of the Tiger Track Classic.
