KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Western Michigan track and field team wrapped up the final day of competition at the SeaRay Relays, hosted by the University of Tennessee on Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos competed in five relays, mixed with some individual events, and managed to finish in the top five in each of them.
"I was really pleased with today," said head coach
Kelly Lycan. "I thought we did a nice job of competing and the relays went well."
WMU took second in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:20.12.
Destinee Lukianoff led off the race for the Broncos and put the squad in second when handing it off to redshirt freshman
Jordan Anderson. Anderson and
Emily McAnsh slipped to third before
Alex Forsythe's mile anchor leg brought them back into second place ahead of Eastern Kentucky.
The Broncos took third in the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 9:00.81.
Aisha Hodge led off the race, running a split of just over 2:10. She was followed by
Rachel Whitley,
Cara Cremeans and finally
Jeriesha Tucker on the anchor. The Broncos were able to edge out fourth place Wisconsin, who they finished just under .50 seconds ahead of.
Western Michigan added two new pieces in the 4x100-meter relay and took third with a time of 46.41 seconds. Freshman
Artia Gunn ran lead-off and
Lindsey Hufnagel ran the anchor as the new cogs on the squad with
Andrea Arnold and
Iris Campbell handling the middle legs. The new approach led to WMU posting its best time of the season.
Hufnagel, Campbell and Arnold also contributed to the 4x400-meter relay squad's fifth-place finish. The top five of Miami (Ohio), Connecticut, Purdue, Tennessee and WMU all finished withing under one second with Miami taking first with a time of 3:39.82 and the Broncos finishing with a time of 3:40.57. Sophomore
Kathryn Pickett also ran as a part of the team, helping them to their best mark of the season.
Campbell competed individually in the 200-meter dash, finishing in seventh with a time of 24.18 seconds. In the discus invitational
Andrea Hiler took fifth place with a distance of 48.40 meters (158-09), while
Stephanie Negrete placed ninth.
"We just haven't had a chance to do any real qualify training outside because of the weather," added Lycan. "We are competing very well but just stuck running in some decent, not slow, times but we haven't caught fire yet."
The Broncos head to Ypsilanti, Mich., for the Central Collegiate Invitational on Saturday, April 6.
