WMU track team completes recruiting class

Zeke Trezevant
Sports Editor

Western Michigan University track and field head coach Kelly Lycan announced the signing of 10 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. The 10 signees mark the completion of the 2010 recruiting.

Chiara Allen of Lake Orion, Mich., Andrea Arnold of Maple Heights, Ohio, Liza Boudreau of Ann Arbor, Mich.,  Alex Forsythe of Wayland, Mich., Whitney Freeman of Munster, Ind., Chelsea Gerbers of Ft. Wayne, Ind., Andrea Hiler of Watervliet, Mich., Aisha Hodge of Bangor, Mich., Destinee Lukianoff of Holly, Mich. and Stephani Negrete of Griffith, Ind. will all be Broncos this season.

Allen comes to the Broncos as the top senior hurdler in the state of Michigan at Lake Orion, last year. She won second place in the 100 meter hurdles at the Division I State Championships. She was also the anchor of Lake Orion’s school record-setting 4×400 meter relay team.

Boudreau comes from a track and field family with her father being a former runner at Eastern Michigan and her mother, a former coach with Bowling Green. As an all-around performer she ran on Ann Arbor Pioneer’s 4×400 team but excelled in the 800 meter run, eventually taking fifth place at the Division I State Championship with a time of 2:14.89. Boudreau’s talents also extends to cross country, where she finished in 15th place at the state championship meet.

Forsythe was a state qualifier in the 800 and 1,600 meter runs, respectively, while at Wayland.

Freeman was the top senior hurdler in the state of  Indiana while at Munster High. She finished second in the 300 meter hurdles at the State Championship in Indiana and also came in fifth for the 100 meter hurdles. She competed at the Midwest Meet of Champions where she took second place in the 300 hurdles. She went on to take fourth in the 100 hurdles.

Gerbers becomes yet another stellar track and field star from Fort Wayne Concordia High School. Former Bronco star Joy Eloms was from Fort Wayne also . Gerbers placed seventh at the Indiana State Championship in shot put while placing eighth in the discus. Gerbers also went on to the Midwest Meet of Champions where she won fourth place in shot put.

Hiler is a  local from Southeast Michigan and was the Division III State Champion in the discus with a then personal-best distance of 143 feet. She topped her old best mark at the Midwest Meet of Champions by throwing 150 feet, five inches. Hiler also took second in the state in shot put.

Hodge, another local, is coming to Kalamazoo from Bangor. She finished third at states in the 400 meter dash.

Lukianoff was ranked eighth in the Flint Journal’s Top 10 Flint-Area Girl’s Track and Field Athletes. She qualified for states in the 800 run and as a member of the 4×400 team at Holly High School.

Negrete joined her future teammate Gerbers on the awards podium at the Indiana State Championships as she placed fifth in the discus with a personal-best distance of 136 feet, 10 inches. She would go on to place seventh at the Midwest Meet of Champions. Negrete is also a solid contributor in the shot put.

For Boudreau, Hodge, Lukianoff and Forsythe, the 2010 cross country season is coming up fast, starting Sept. 3.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jul 23 2010. 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

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