LAWRENCE, Kan. - With a couple new additions, the Butler women's 4x800-meter relay team not only qualified for nationals, but had an exciting finish to take first place at the Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at the University of Kansas.

The relay team of Madison Wedekind, Janell Kidd, Jonelle Reinert and Abiane Collymore won the event with a national qualifying time of 10:10.80. Wedekind, who was the Jayhawk West women's cross country winner in the fall, was running in her first indoor meet of the season. Collymore, who has been sidelined with an injury for most of the indoor season, was participating in her second meet but it was her first time running the 4x800 event this season.

Collymore and Johnson County's Madison Williams traded positions twice on the anchor leg, but it was Collymore edging Williams out at the finish line to give Butler the win.

Collymore, Kidd and Wedekind also finished second, third and fourth in the 1,000-meter run. Collymore won the second heat with a time of 3:14.72, while Kidd and Wedekind crossed the finish line at the same time at 3:16.73 in the first heat.

In the 4x400-meter relay, the team of Reinert, Sueshi-Ann Halliman, Brittany Lawrence and Nhaieemah Horne placed fifth with a time of 4:12.86. Freshman Lindi Young took eighth in the 5,000-meter run with a personal-best time of 20:55.74

As a team, Butler finished eighth overall with 34 points. Johnson County won the Region VI women's title with 163 points. Coffeyville took second with 115.5 points, while Barton finished in third with 94 points.

The 4x800-meter team - along with Collymore individually in the 1,000-meter run - will compete next in the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in New York, N.Y. on March 7-8. The two-day event will be held at the New Balance Center at The Armory.