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Four Broncos at NCAA track nationals

June 11, 2008

KALAMAZOO--The Western Michigan University women's track and field team will make its fourth consecutive appearance, and fifth overall, in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin today and take place through Saturday, June 14, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Senior Becky Horn of Battle Creek, Mich., junior Danielle Brown of Kalamazoo, and junior Jennifer Sabra and freshman Victoria Chatman, both of Taylor, Mich., will compete as a team in the 400-meter relay. The Broncos will race individually in the 800-meter run and 400-meter hurdles.

WMU's 400-meter relay team took fourth place during a record-setting performance at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. The quartet's time of 3 minutes, 33.57 seconds broke the Mid-American Conference record of 3:34.78, which was set by WMU in 2006. Horn, Sabra and Chatman are also individual record holders in the 400-meter dash. Horn is the school's overall record holder with a time of 52.35 seconds. Sabra, 53.39, has the second-fastest time in school history, and Chatman has left her mark with the fourth-fastest time of 53.74--a Kanley Track record that was set during the Jack Shaw Invitational May 3. Brown does not compete in the 400-meter dash due to her commitment in the 400-meter hurdles, in which she is WMU's current record holder. This gives the Bronco relay team four of the fastest 400 runners in school history.

"We are all peaking at the best part of the season," says head coach Kelly Lycan. "Many of our season-best times were set at the Regional Championships. We are definitely at our fittest and our fastest."

Horn, who will vie in the 800-meter run, took third place at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships this year with a time of 2:04.75. She also took fifth place at the 2008 Indoor National Championships to earn All-American status for the second-straight year at the indoor level.

Brown, who will compete in the 400-meter hurdles, also had a record-setting weekend during the regional finals. In the preliminaries, she broke the 10-year-old school record with a time of 57.73--a record that would last less than 24 hours, until Brown got a chance to run in the finals. She improved her previous record with a time of 57.18 and finished second overall, the highest a WMU student-athlete has ever placed in the NCAA Regional Championships.

Sabra also will compete in the 400-meter hurdles. Although she missed qualifying during regionals by .15 seconds, her time of 58.20 was a personal best and she was later added to nationals when her time proved to be low enough.

CBS College Sports Network, formerly CSTV, will broadcast the finals Friday, June 13, from 8 to 11 p.m. The final day of competition will be aired on CBS from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 14.

Media contact: Tonya Hernandez, (269) 387-8400, tonya.hernandez@wmich.edu

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