KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's track and field and cross country team announced its annual team awards as the season wrapped up over the weekend.
 
WMU's coaching staff of head coach Makiba Batten, distance coach Tony Filipek and sprints/hurdles/jumps coach Bridgette Owens each hounded out a Most Improved and a Bronco Spirit Award. The Most Improved Award goes to a student-athlete that has made leaps and bounds improving the most in competition on the season. The Bronco Spirit Award is awarded to the most dedicated athlete that also encompasses positive and outgoing spirit.
 
Coach Filipek named Charlotte Ramser his Most Improved Award winner, while Annalise James earned the Bronco Spirit Award for the distance group and cross country team. Coach Owens named freshman Sarinity Bracey as her Most Improved Award winner, while fellow freshman Claira Gilchrist was given the Bronco Spirit Award. Coach Batten named senior Aniya Davis the Most Improved of the throws group and fellow senior Taylor Eaton was given the Bronco Spirit Award.
 
Freshman Ahvon Mitchell was voted the Newcomer of the Year. Mitchell scored in the Indoor MAC Championship, in her first ever appearance, after taking sixth in the 60-meter hurdles and helping the 4x400-meter relay team to an eighth place finish.
 
The Brown & Gold Award goes to the student-athlete that has scored the most points at the conference or national level and has the highest GPA. Brittney Hall earned the award after scoring 11 points at the Outdoor MAC Championship. She took third in the 5,000-meter run and fourth in the 10,000-meter run. Hall also boasts a 4.0 GPA.
 
The Outstanding Leadership Award goes to one or more captains that have exemplified the process of social influence to maximize the efforts of others toward the achieving outcomes. This year's award went to Juliane Sormain and Eaton.
 
Senior Rebecca McNamee was named the Cross Country Athlete of the Year. McNamee turned in personal-best times in all three races she competed in this season and earned Second Team All-MAC honors after finishing in eighth place at the MAC Championship. The Track Athlete of the Year award went to Hall after her performance at the Outdoor MAC Championships. Davis was named the Field Athlete of the Year. Davis scored at the Indoor MAC Championship in the weight throw, taking fourth place. During the outdoor season she dominated in the discus, winning the event four times before breaking the program record. She also went on to score in both the discus and the hammer throw at the Outdoor MAC Championships and qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in the discus for the first time.