MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's track and field program opened the 2021-22 indoor season winning five events at the Central Michigan Invitational on Friday.
Azaria McGee-Grantham, Trinity Bracey, Rebecca McNamee, Ahvon Mitchell, and Taylor Eaton all picked up wins on the day, while Sarinity Bracey, Kailyn Mince, Claira Gilchrist and McNamee also turned in second-place finishes.
"This was a good first meet for us," said head coach Makiba Batten. "We won some events and that has our athletes feeling good. We're ready to continue to build off of the energy and confidence of the team."
In her collegiate debut McGee-Grantham ran the fastest 60-meter dash time by a Bronco since 2019 and the fastest time by a WMU freshman since Ashley (Hunault) Williams in 2008. The Union, N.J., native ran a time of 7.63 seconds to take the event. Western Michigan picked up another win in the sprints after Trinity Bracey claimed the top spot with a time of 25.78 seconds with Mitchell taking fifth overall at 26.93. Mitchell earned her win in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.89 seconds. WMU took the top three spots in the race with Sarinity Bracey finishing right behind her at 8.90 and Grace Johnson in third at 8.91.
McNamee earned her win in the mile run, breaking five minutes with a time of 4:58.32. Annalise James also finished in the top eight, taking sixth with a time of 5:16.07. McNamee also took second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.03, with Margaret Raab taking third and James taking fifth. Also with a strong performance in the distance events was Mince, taking second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:29.37.
Eaton started off her senior season with a win in the weight throw with the Broncos taking four of the top eight spots. Eaton threw a distance of 58' 7.25" (17.86m), followed by Madison Ochs in fourth at 51' 6.25" (15.70m), freshman Elizabeth Shontz in seventh at 45' 1.5" (13.75m) and freshman Lily Kucharek in eighth at 44' (13.41m).
Western Michigan heads over to Ann Arbor next Saturday for the Michigan Invitational.
