DES MOINES, Iowa  -  Five Western Illinois track and field athletes represented the Westerwinds at the prestigious Drake Relays, Friday and Saturday.

"All the women performed really well and it's good to be able to perform that well on a big stage like the Drake Relays," Western Illinois head track and field coach Mike Stevenson said. "For them to do as well under the weather conditions of 42 degrees and rainy is even better."

Beth Whalen was the first to compete in the finals as she took third place in the 10,000-meter run with a season-best time of 36:59.84. Whalen finished behind first-place runner Katie Shaw from Baylor with a time of 36:22.35 and Morgan Place from Minnesota-Duluth with a time of 36:27.27.

"Beth started us all off with her outstanding run," Stevenson said. "Third is the highest place Western has seen at the Drake Relays in seven years."

ChrisDell Harris, Ashley Yancy, Nikki Klier and Amy Byers combined for an eighth-place finish of 22 teams in the sprint medley relay finals. The Westerwinds recorded a time of 4:01.68.

Harris later competed in the 100-meter dash finals and recorded a  seventh-place finish with a time of 11.99, good enough for the third fastest time of all competitors in The Summit League.

To wrap up the day, Yancy landed a fifth-place finish of 23 competitors in the triple jump. Yancy reached a distance of 39-07.25 (12.07m).

"We were really excited for ChrisDell to run under 12 seconds again, Ashley was outstanding in the triple jump and the sprint medley was awesome," explained Stevenson. "It was exciting to watch them run they way they did to top it all off. Overall it was a great experience for our kids and our program."  

The Westerwinds compete next at the Illinois Open in Champaign, Ill., May 2.