Women's Track & Field | May 11, 2018
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Western Michigan redshirt sophomore Gabrielle Collins claimed her first career Mid-American Conference title as she won the long jump on Friday, highlighting the second day of competition for the WMU track and field team at the 2018 MAC Outdoor Championships.
Collins became just the second Bronco in program history to break the 20-foot barrier after reaching a distance of 20' 2.5" (6.16 meters).
"Gabby had the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles and she missed qualifying by .20 seconds prior to her flight in the long jump," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "She had to quickly process that and go to the long jump. Her first approach was off and she missed the board by about two feet. We moved her up and she was still behind by at least a foot on her second jump. Gabby was really down at that point after the disappointment from the hurdles and now she was staring at not making the finals in the long jump."
Collins battled through the disappointment and her winning mark came on her third jump and held up throughout the finals.
"It only takes one in field events," Lycan added. "She got her composure back and was able to pop that winning distance."
Sophomore Erica Sheahan took sixth overall in the long jump, as well. Sheahan made the finals on the back of her first jump of 19' 1.25" (5.82m) and improved it on her fifth jump to a personal-best 19' 3.25" (5.87m). It was the first time scoring for Sheahan in her young career, giving the Broncos 13 total points after Collins' win.
Western Michigan currently sits in sixth place with 26 points, just six out of the top four and 10 back from second place Central Michigan. Akron leads the MAC Championship with 57 points.
Also adding to the point total was junior Allison Hufnagel. Hufnagel finished the first day of the MAC Championship in fifth place in the heptathlon. Hufnagel had her three best events, the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run, to look forward to on Friday and moved up a spot to finish in fourth place and score five points. She ended up with a career-best 4,725 points.
WMU is also primed to score more points on Saturday thanks to successful qualifications in the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash and the 800. Sophomore Madison Meredith won her heat in the 100 with a time of 11.80 seconds, the third-fastest time on the day. Senior, and team captain, Davonne Bolden earned a spot in the finals of the 400. Bolden automatically qualified after finishing second in her heat with a time of 55.73 seconds.
The Broncos picked up two qualifiers in the 800 in Sarah Anderson and freshman Juliane Sormain. Anderson, the top-ranked runner in the field coming into the preliminaries, won her heat easily to secure her spot after a time of 2:11.37. Sormain sneaked in and earned the last qualifying spot after running a time of 2:14.10.
Western Michigan wraps up the MAC Championship on Saturday with a full slate of action.
