Cooper, Brown, 4 x 400 team qualify for Mideast Regionals

By Roger Sievers
Western Herald

The Western Michigan University women’s track and field team took advantage of the sunny Alabama weather as junior Irene Cooper, senior Danielle Brown and the 4 x 400 meter relay team all qualified for the Mideast Regional Championships at Louisville this past weekend at the Alabama Relays.

Alabama chose not to score the meet, so the Broncos could not defend their title even though their performances were among the best.

Cooper had déjà vu, as she almost mimicked her 2008 performance at the Alabama Relays. Her throw of 184‑1 in the hammer throw, well over the 177‑8 requirement, was good enough for first place in the event and a trip to Louisville.

Brown, a Kalamazoo native, ran the 400-meter hurdles in 58.46 to win the event. She had the lead for the entire race and even bumping into the fourth hurdle could not stop her momentum enough from losing the race. Brown almost had another regional qualifying time, falling .02 seconds short in the 100-meter hurdles. She finished in fourth overall and third among collegiate finishers.

“It was nice to get those regional qualifiers out of the way for Danielle and Irene,” said WMU women’s track and field coach Kelly Lycan in Saturday’s press release. “We wanted to get some outdoor races under our belt and do a good job competing and we’ve done that so far. But the regional qualifying marks are just some extra sauce on the rib.”

The 4 x 400 relay team had to put up with strong winds and an All‑American sprinter, but managed to finish in second place with a regional qualifying time of 3:40.21. Lycan changed up the order of the team, having senior Jennifer Sabra take the first leg with sophomore Victoria Chatman running the next, keeping WMU in the lead.

Sophomore Leya Munwam ran the third leg. However, Ole Miss took over first from the Broncos. Brown ran the anchor leg, but had to go up against Ole Miss All‑American Lajada Baldwin. Baldwin had a five‑stride lead when Brown got the baton, but Brown was able to gain ground ending up just two strides short of first place.

The 4 x 800 relay team made up of senior Jennifer Roberts, juniors Jill Odom and Alexis Brown as well as sophomore Samantha Draney finished in third place with a time of 9:29.05

“The 4 x 800 squad ran a smart and competitive race,” said Lycan. “It was good to see Odom and Draney out there getting races under their belts after the injuries.”

Chatman also had a good performance out on the track as she ran a time of 12.16 in the 100 meters, was the third collegiate finisher in the 200 meters and finished second in the 400 meters with a time of 55.13. The strong winds on the track kept athletes from turning in top quality times.

Alexis Brown had a height of 5‑7.75 in the high jump, which was good for second place in the meet and fifth all time in WMU history. The shuttle hurdle relay team of Danielle Brown, Sabra, Alexis Brown and freshman Amanda Fenton took third with a time of 58.46.

Senior Jennifer Roberts also ran well, running a 4:41.75 in the 1,500 meter run. Sophomores Sarah Morris and Linsay Bloor had their first opportunities to contribute to the team during the outdoor season in the discus and the javelin throw while freshman Sarah Ross took first place for the Broncos in the pole vault, with a height of 11‑6.

“At this point in the season, it is all about competitiveness,” said Lycan in Sunday‘s press release. “The faster times will come later when the weather warms up and our training kicks. The execution will get better, but the effort was definitely there today and that was good to see.”

The team will head to Central Michigan University for the annual Compass Classic on Saturday.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Mar 30 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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