They relished the competition, they whipped some they weren't supposed to, and they set a new Incarnate Word school record. All of that came when for the first time ever UIW sent a relay team to the NCAA Division II National Track and field Championships.

Getting consistently faster all spring, the Cardinals 4x100 relay squad got into the national championships as the 13th and final entry based on earlier performances. In the preliminaries, running in heat number two, the foursome of junior Hayley Watts and freshmen Lauren Pratt, Je'Marca Tremble and Antoinette Denson ran faster and better than their competitors expected.

Turning the one-time-around race in 46.85, the group finished 10th, outrunning three teams which had arrived at the meet with quicker times. And, that mark was a new UIW school record in the event.

Ironically, that time would have been good for seventh in the finals of the 4x100 had the Cardinals advanced to the eight-team field.

The winner of the event was Lincoln which is a fellow Heartland Conference member. The Blue Tiger quartet toured the course in 44.32.

That race officially ended the Incarnate Word track season, a spring which saw the Cardinals put up school record after school record in almost every event on the UIW women's worksheet.