Women's Track & Field | January 24, 2019

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – For the third straight week the Western Michigan track and field team will head to a Big Ten school, traveling to the University of Minnesota for the Jack Johnson Classic on Friday and Saturday.

WMU has had impressive results at its previous two Big Ten stops at the University of Illinois and Indiana University in the past two weeks. Last weekend saw Sarah Anderson run the 20th-fastest time in the nation in the 3,000-meter run, 9:35.60, at IU's Gladstein Invitational. WMU also has wins in the shot put by Abena Atuobi and Julianne Sormain in the mile run.

Only four athletes will open the competition on Friday, which is reserved for the women's pentathlon and men's heptathlon. The Broncos are fielding Erika DePierre, Taylor Fender, Ashley Hufnagel and Clare Lycan. Hufnagel has been WMU's top and most consistent performer in the pentathlon, reaching a career-high 3,378 points at the 2018 Indoor Mid-American Conference Championships. Hufnagel's career-best placed her sixth in the event to earn WMU three points. Fender also scored, finishing eighth with a career-best mark of 3,066. The group will compete in all five events on Friday.

WMU's jam-packed Saturday begins at 11 a.m. with the weight throw and shot put. Atuobi, Western Michigan's top athlete in the event, will face tough competition in the event with Minnesota's Kiley Sabin. Sabin is currently ranked fifth in the nation in the event after throwing 56' 2.5" (17.13m) at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational last weekend.

Broncos will also compete in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash, mile run, 400-meter dash, 800-meter run, 200-meter dash, 600-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay on Saturday.

Next up for WMU is one of the most prestigious indoor meets in track and field, the famed Meyo Invitational at the University of Notre Dame on Feb. 1-2.