Women's Track & Field | February 16, 2019
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Western Michigan track and field's Sarah Anderson broke the WMU indoor 800-meter run record and ran the 15th-fastest time in the nation at the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday.
Anderson had already had the top time in the event in the Mid-American Conference, but improved upon it after running an indoor personal-best time of 2:05.74 to win the race. The time gets converted due to track size to officially be 2:06.14, edging out WMU Hall of Fame Becky Horn's old record by .09 seconds. Anderson was near the front of the pack early on but broke away and had the final 200 meters all to herself. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native breaks her second school record of the year, after snapping the mile record at the Meyo Invitational.
Sprinter Ayiana Gaines returned to action for the first time this indoor season, winning the 400-meter dash with at time of 56.09 seconds. The senior also took third overall in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.11 seconds.
Sophomore Courtney Allen had a personal-best time in the mile, running 5:17.62 on the day, while senior Maria McDaniel had a season-best performance in the 3,000-meter run. McDaniel ran a time of 9:49.93 to take first place.
Western Michigan now heads to the 2019 Indoor Mid-American Conference Championships, beginning on Friday at Kent State.
